The Exeter Project
by Shadow0Fire
Summary: After the unfortunate destruction of America's rampaging I.S, the Gospel, it lost all privileges to own Infinite Stratos technology. It's new project, Exeter, will be vastly superior to all I.S and the United States aims to prove it, sending it's experienced teenage pilot to instigate a conflict that could launch World War III. It's time to exterminate with extreme prejudice.
1. A Soldier's Duty

**So I'm beginning another fanfic while I take a break from my other 4-5 stories. I was planning on writing one or this series for a long time, but I lost interest when I started some of my other fics. But I've got plenty of time now, so here we go!**

* * *

"We'll brief you on the objective after you make a practice run with the suit, Epsilon. Make sure to run the primary diagnostics check first. Wouldn't want to ruin Exeter already."

Epsilon nodded inside his body-sized battle suit. He was wearing Exeter, America's newest innovation in futuristic aerial combat. After the U.S had lost control of the Gospel and its subsequent destruction by foreign forces, America's rights to own Infinite Stratos technology had been completely revoked. All of the U.S.A.'s I.S. had been forcefully confiscated by the United Nations. That had been six months ago.

Epsilon's armored fist smashed through a concrete block. He briefly thought of how easy it was, but his mind quickly returned to thinking of other things; Epsilon had run this course so many times that he didn't have to concentrate on it. The Exeter project had been initiated right after the loss of America's I.S. In fact, the Exeter project had been planned and designed years ago. It wasn't meant to be started until a few years from now, but the current crisis had sped up it's initiation date. As things were now, America would be terribly outgunned and nearly defenseless if it went to war with another country and ran into enemy I.S., so the Exeter project had been put into motion to return the balance of power.

The Exeter project was a new type of aerial combat technology. Since America was unable to possess I.S. of their own anymore, Exeter was a new creation entirely. Instead of a mech being controlled by a pilot, it was an armor suit that the pilot was inside and controlling as his or her own body. It was sort of like Iron Man. Except Iron Man was a character, and Exeter was reality. The silver battle suit covered every inch of the wearer's body, and it was armed with incredibly powerful weapons that were vastly superior to any of the I.S. they had been tested against so far. Exeter had already been tested against not only factory model I.S., but also specialized units from France, England, and several other countries. Exeter had destroyed all of them. Even though the enemy mech's had been controlled by expert pilots, they were unable to match Epsilon's piloting skills or the full power of the Exeter suit.

In almost all ways, the Exeter suit was superior to almost all known I.S. On average, at least. Exeter was superior to any standard I.S., but it couldn't match the specs of specialized I.S. mechs. England's Blue Tears for example: Blue Tears' accuracy had been superior to Exeter's by a 3 to 1 margin. However, It's weakness in close range and agility had been a huge disadvantage in combat compared to Exeter, which was superior in both aspects. With those advantages, Epsilon had easily outmaneuvered and defeated England's I.S. Of course, If Epsilon was confronted by multiple specialized I.S., even he wouldn't be able to handle that.

The U.S. Special Research Division was currently working on something they called the Instant Armor Modification Module. Epsilon didn't know the details, but he had been told the general idea behind the system. Apparently, the I.A.M.M. would make it possible for Exeter to instantly switch out armor components so that it could specialize the suit in another area, such as speed, heavy weaponry, or close quarters combat. Epsilon wasn't entirely sue how it worked, but as long as it did, he didn't really care. Unfortunately, it wasn't scheduled to be finished for another six months. Epsilon looked forward to using it later.

Epsilon had finished the practice course without even realizing it. He had been too deep in thought to pay attention to his surroundings. But when he looked at the score chart above him on the wall, he noticed that his score for the course had been perfect. A result of the past three years of intensive training no doubt. Epsilon had been put into control of Exeter nearly seven years in advance. He was supposed to be twenty-two before he started piloting the mechanical marvel, but instead, he was a fifteen year old teenager in command of a weapon of destruction. But the brass believed he was ready for it. And from the tests so far, he was.

The voice of the Commander crackled over the training room's intercom. "Nice work, Epsilon. Return to the observation room for your briefing. It's gonna be a lot to take in."

* * *

Epsilon walked into the observation room that overlooked the training area he had just been in. Sitting at the one table in the middle of the room was the 40-year old grey haired Commander. Epsilon had met the Texan three years ago, when his training had first started. The man's beady black eyes had always unnerved him. It was even worse that Epsilon had never found out the man's name. Personally, Epsilon didn't trust him. But he was his military superior, nevertheless.

Epsilon was still wearing the Exeter suit as he saluted the man. He had to be careful in doing so though; too much force and he could easily impact and shatter his skull. Inside a helmet, it would leave a very messy smoothie. "Reporting in, Commander."

The Commander waved his hand and replied, "At ease, Epsilon. Nice work out there by the way. Almost seemed effortless."

Epsilon dropped his salute and nodded. "Thank you, Sir."

The Commander sat back in his chair and pulled out one of his cigars. He almost always had one with him. Since it was against regulations to light it, he simply chewed on the tip. "And now onto business. We have a very important task for you, priority Alpha-1. Think you're up for it?"

Epsilon replied emotionlessly. "With all due respect sir, you haven't told me the mission yet."

The Commander cracked a small smile, but it was anything but happy. It freaked the hell out of Epsilon. "True enough, Epsilon, true enough. But we think you can handle it. After all, it is what you've been training for."

Epsilon gave no response. What he had been TRAINED for was unregulated combat with hostile I.S. in an open war zone. He really doubted that this mission would require such a thing. Still, priority A1 was top class, it would definitely be dangerous. And as his first real assignment as well? What was the brass thinking anyway?

The Commander got right to the point."Are you aware of the Infinite Stratos Academy in Japan, Epsilon?"

Epsilon nodded. "Yes sir."

The Commander grunted in response. "Then pack your bags son, 'cause that's were you'll be going for this assignment."

Epsilon was confused. The reason for going to that academy would likely be to retrieve or gather data on foreign I.S. technology, but none of it would be something the U.S.A. didn't already know. Why was something so easy ranked as a priority A1 assignment? There would be minimal danger...

"I'm sorry sir, but I don't see how a reconnaissance or retrieval mission is classified as this rank or why I'm being sent. Don't we have other agents that could do it? Exeter has more important things to attend to."

The Commander chuckled coldly. "Reconnaissance? Retrieval? Hell no, son, this mission is nothing as simple and easy as that. You're goal... is to DESTROY it."

Epsilon was shocked. "D-destroy? What do you mean by that, Commander? I don't-!"

The Commander cut him off. "I mean what I say, son. Raze, annihilate, decimate, whatever. The government wants the Academy gone, building and all. That includes all of the I.S. there, as well as any individuals we deem dangerous. Need any more clarification, son?"

Epsilon just stared at the Commander, his dumb expression hidden behind his helmet. "How and why exactly am I supposed to do that?"

The Commander cocked an eyebrow and gave him an incredulous look, as though Epsilon was asking a question with an obvious answer. "Well, we can't just go and drop a nuke on the damn thing now can we? War isn't that simple. As for why, it's because we ordered you too, and you have an obligation to obey. No more questions. There will be time for that later. In fact, I have to leave for another meeting right now, and you'll be filled in on the mission parameters later. Report to the engineering lab and be quick about it. I've wasted enough time talkin' already."

* * *

Epsilon couldn't wrap his head around the objective. Destroy a major non-military installation in a foreign country? Surely that was an act of war! Had this been ordered by the President himself? Just what the hell was going on? He was still thinking when he entered the engineering lab. He saw his friend, Engineer Lead Marcus Dougley, waiting for him as he entered. The young man had befriended him shortly after Epsilon had arrived in this facility. The man was constantly working on Exeter, so he and Epsilon had plenty of time to talk.

"Yo, Marcus. A little bit of an explanation would be nice."

The brown haired, glasses wearing nerd grinned at him. "Sorry, little dude. I don't have any idea what you're leaving to do, and you're not allowed to tell me. I just have to give you this, and you'll be on your way. ASAP too; you were supposed to leave ten minutes ago. But don't worry. Even if we don't have time to talk, I've got you a new buddy to fill in for me!"

Marcus held out his hand to show Epsilon a round blue and gray ringed disk about the size of his palm. "What is that thing supposed to be?"

Marcus smiled triumphantly. "This is my newest creation! A fully-functional Artificial Intelligence, Personally designed by me for Exeter!"

Epsilon looked at the excited man with doubt. "An AI? No way, that's way too sci-fi."

Marcus shot a sarcastic glare back at him. "Says the kid in the futuristic battle suit with jet-packs, lasers, and plasma missiles."

Epsilon smiled, even though Marcus couldn't see it behind his helmet's visor. "Point taken. And what does it do exactly?"

The man motioned for Epsilon to turn around so he could install the disk in the armor. He talked while he worked. "It does everything, and that's the true beauty of it! It helps with flight paths, weapon evasion, armor calibration, maximum output management, the list goes on forever! This useful little guy will make your job way easier! Thanks to yours truly, of course."

Epsilon was a little against having an AI to interfere with his suit, but if it was truly so useful, he supposed it was a worthy add-on. "Does this AI have a name?"

Marcus closed up whatever panel he was messing with on Exeter's back. "Yep. I call it..."Cerberus!"

Epsilon sighed. "You named an AI after a three-headed demon dog? Where did that inspiration come from?"

Marcus walked Epsilon over to the hangar door that connected to the engineering lab where he would be departing for Japan. "Well... Cerberus has a um... minor flaw."

Epsilon glanced at him. " A 'minor' flaw?"

Marcus nodded. "Yep. You see... Cerberus is uh...hmmm... oh! Cerberus is Schizophrenic, if you will."

Epsilon stopped walking and stared at the man, "You installed a bipolar Intelligence with access to my suit inside the armor?"

Marcus waved him off and pushed him to keep walking. "It's not like that. The AI itself just has multiple personalities, that's all. It's nothing dangerous. It has three, to be exact, which is why I dubbed him Cerberus. Though I suppose I could've called it Trident as well..."

Epsilon sighed again and stopped in front of the open hangar bay doors. "As long as it doesn't possess me or something, it's fine."

Marcus patted him on the back. "It'll be fine! He's nothing like that! You'll see. He'll activate about fifteen minutes from now. And he'll be great!"

But then Marcus got serious. "Hey, no matter what happens or what you're doing out there. I"ll be here for you. If you ever need help, you know where to find me."

Epsilon looked at him, noting a seriousness and sadness that Marcus's face almost never had. "Thank you, Marcus. I appreciate it."

The man started to walk back towards the far end of the hangar so Epsilon could launch. "Good luck...Church. I get the feeling you're going to need it." Church readied Exeter for takeoff and sighed one last time. He had no idea just how much luck he needed.

* * *

**So I think this will be an interesting path for an Infinite Stratos fic. Sorry about the lack of characters form the series itself, but they'll show up next chapter, so don't worry. Please give me some feedback or tips! I feel like I may have done inadequately here, so I'd like to get the reader's opinion. Thanks for reading-Shadow0Fire**


	2. Warrior's Honor

**I'm surprised this fic started off so well. 150 hits and 4 reviews in a day and a half, that's something my stories have never experienced before! Hell, I wish you readers did stuff like that more often. But because it started so well, I've decided to write the next chapter for this much sooner than I usually would. Enjoy.**

* * *

"So basically, the U.S. government wants me to kick off World War III with a bang."

A neutral synthetic voice responded inside Church's helmet, showing no signs of emotion at all as it spoke. "Precisely, Operator-Epsilon. The President has agreed with Shadow Sector that direct offensive action is necessary. If one of the other countries strikes first, America will be decimated. Destroying the largest supply of I.S. and dangerous pilots in a preemptive strike is the logical course of action."

Church just shook his head as he blasted over the Atlantic Ocean at almost twice the speed of sound. At his current rate, England would come into view soon. Of course, he could've flown faster, but he was in no hurry to get to Japan. Which was also why he was taking the long route to begin with. Crossing the Pacific would've been much quicker, and more efficient. When Cerberus had questioned his reasons for taking a longer and less efficient route, Church had said that it was an engine and flight capability diagnostic. Cerberus had calculated all of that for him in two seconds, but it had made no remark to his excuse.

Church had found out that Marcus had been telling the truth about Cerberus being bipolar. Or, tripolar, maybe? Either way, it was certainly an interesting little AI. It had already given three different opinions on his mission. One had been completely neutral, saying that orders were orders and that they were absolute. The second opinion had been saying that the mission was immoral, and that Epsilon should accomplish the mission without harming anyone. And the last opinion had been telling Epsilon to destroy everything and everyone at the Academy, for no other reason than that it would be enjoyable.

Epsilon wasn't sure if Cerberus would be useful when it had three opinions on every matter, but he needed someone to talk to, and it had at least clarified the mission parameters efficiently. Church didn't actually have to destroy the Academy ASAP. His first objective was to gather any and all data he could on enemy technology. This would be accomplished by implementing him into the Academy, as a sign of 'Good Faith' by the American government. Apparently, a new I.S. had been developed just before the destruction of the Gospel. Supposedly, it was the 'next generation' of I.S. The data on that new technology was Church's top priority. The second priority was investigating the rumored male at the Academy, supposedly the only male who could pilot an I.S. The boy wasn't really important himself, but Shadow Sector was a little worried that there may be a new innovation in I.S. technology. If males were now able to pilot I.S., the potential number of I.S. pilots, as well as hostile forces, would increase dramatically.

However, based on the reports Cerberus had given him, Church didn't think that was the case. More than likely it was just a one-time phenomenon. If it was, than the second mission priority would shift to data retrieval on any I.S. that wasn't in the detailed databases back in the States. The only ones Church could really think of were China, Australia, and a few smaller European countries that were overshadowed by their larger neighbors. Unless any other mission priorities came up later, then the information retrieval would take very little time. And then he would have to destroy the Academy, as was the original objective...

"Approximately six hours and twenty-three minutes until arrival at Japan's Infinite Stratos Academy. If you do not require anything else, I will move onto calibrating your weapon systems, Operator-Epsilon."

Church answered his new robot companion with a sullen voice. "One more thing then. Forward me any dossiers, bios, or other info you can get on the Academy's teachers and Representative Cadets. Send me something on any other students you deem necessary as well."

Cerberus responded with it's more violent personality. "Complying with your orders. Put it to good use; information is the best way to plan out your plan of attack. Make sure it's messy. Evisceration works well. Electrocution and blunt trauma also work well on organic targets."

Church was seriously worried about this thing. God forbid it ever gained control of Exeter's flamethrowers.

* * *

"Alright everyone, calm down and listen up!" Chifuyu easily silenced the classroom full of girls (and Ichika, though she definitely didn't consider him a man.) with her powerful voice. It was the way she liked it; when she spoke, people listened, and that's the way it should be.

"Sometime this week, whether it is today, tomorrow, or any other time, because we don't have an exact time, we will have a new arrival at the Academy. It will be a boy-!"

Almost all of the girls broke out into talk about a new boy arrival before Chifuyu had even finished. Needless to say, it took about two and a half seconds to shut them up. After she was sure she had their attention again, she continued.

"It will be a boy from the United States of America. And before any of you ask, no, he is not an I.S. pilot. As far as we know, Ichika is still the only male I.S. pilot in the world. This also means that this boy IS NOT a student. He will not be here to hang out or be your friend or be bothered by you at all. He is here on behalf of the American government to observe the Academy as a sign of good faith between our two countries. Point is, I don't want any of you to bother him. The only reason you will even talk to him is if he comes to you first."

"There is one more thing however. I'll need all of the Representative Cadets to come see me after class. I'll wait in the classroom for you. And you might as well come to Ms. Shinonono; it will likely involve you as well. Go ahead and continue class."

* * *

"A new type of aerial combat system? Why haven't any of us heard about this? I think my father's company would know, if something like that was being developed..."

Chifuyu examined the assembled Representative Cadets. (Plus Houki) The nervous looks on their faces betrayed their calm composure. Well, all of them except for Ichika. He didn't seem to even care about a new type of opponent; apparently, he didn't think he would be fighting it. And of course, Chifuyu would make sure he did. That boy never took anything seriously.

Chifuyu proceeded to clarify Charlotte's question. She was right when she said that the Dunois company should've heard about the development of a new weapon system. "I don't know why nobody has heard about this until now. My best guess is that the U.S. government has kept it as a classified project, and with good reason too. Doubtless many other countries would be against the creation of a new weapon. Now that America is banned from the ownership of their own I.S., many other countries hold military power over them, and they would do most anything to keep it. Japan is probably the only country that is aware of this so called, "Exeter Project", and I've been told that it needs to stay that way. For now, only you six know about this situation. This info CANNOT be leaked. If it is, we will all be... well, I won't explain it in full detail, but just don't tell anyone about this. Any more questions?"

Chifuyu's old student, Laura, spoke up first. "Will we be required to combat this weapon? If so, we'll need more data on it. I don't want to go against something that I don't know how to fight."

Chifuyu was glad that someone here was functioning on all cylinders. "A good question, Bodewig. Currently, it is possible that either one or perhaps all of you six will be testing the Exeter suit against your own I.S. Unfortunately, we don't have any data on it's combat systems, so if you do fight, you'll be doing it blind. But this is all just theoretical. If we're lucky, he'll only be here for a few weeks, and then he won't be our problem anymore. Anyway, go ahead and get back to class. You have to prepare for the tournament this weekend."

* * *

Meanwhile, Church was just crossing into Japanese airspace. In complete and total stealth, of course. Technically, he wasn't supposed to be here. The government confirmation the I.S. Academy had received about his presence at the Academy was actually false information provided to the Academy by Cerberus. In reality, the Japanese government actually had no idea that they were being infiltrated by an enemy operative. In fact, they didn't even know America had dispatched anyone to come to their country.

Which served to make Church's job that much easier. If the I.S. Academy didn't know the true nature of his presence, than they wouldn't be ready for him when the time came to fulfill the primary objective. Even against far more hostiles and possibly even superior I.S., Church could easily annihilate the Academy if he could get a surprise attack. Unwary enemies were the most vulnerable kind. Of course, he still questioned the mission itself. He was trying to find a way to negate his duty, using a logical reason. But there weren't any. As a soldier, he was required to follow orders and it wasn't his place to question the logic, morals, or reasoning for those orders.

His sour thoughts were interrupted by Cerberus's cheery personality. Church thought that he should name each one so that he didn't confuse himself with the three-in-one AI. "The armor calibrations are done Operator-Epsilon. Please use the suit responsibly. Also, the Infinite Stratos Academy will be in our sights within five minutes at your current speed. It will be nice to see how we will fare in an environment full of girls, yes?"

Church didn't think there would be time to worry about girls, with his ulterior motive being what it was and all. Kinda hard to fraternize with the enemy, even if they didn't know that they were his enemy. He stopped the suit's mid-air flight and pulled up a weapon's system diagnostic. "Sure thing, Cerberus. But before we get there, let's run a system check, shall we? Manual is always more fun anyway."

* * *

Yet another obstacle in her long list of recent problems. Rin couldn't help thinking that as she absorbed the idea of another male at the school, and in unknown technology. Piled on top of the repair of her I.S., the upcoming tournament, and the fact that Ichika never payed attention to her, it made her head hurt just to worry about it. Or maybe that was her pounding headache? She had been subject to a lot of terrible headaches since last month's practice bout with Ichika. That idiot hadn't been paying attention to his power output, and it had caused a lot of damage to her I.S., and apparently her head as well.

She hadn't told anyone about it either. If one of the teacher's knew about her head injury, they would probably prohibit her from participating in this weekend's tournament, and she would lose another chance to impress Ichika. Although he probably wouldn't care anyway. All that dolt ever did was ignore her. Especially since he had gotten close to Charlotte. He hardly payed attention to anyone but her, Chifuyu-Sensei, and sometimes Houki. In fact, she couldn't even remember the last time she had had a meaningful conversation with him.

She had to stop thinking and clutch her head as the headache (or maybe migraine is a better term) worsened for a moment. A few students looked at her as they passed, but none of them stopped. She was glad they didn't. She didn't need anyone to ask any questions until after the tournament. She walked over and sat on the sill of one of the hallway's many windows. It was open, allowing a light breeze to roll into the hallway. It was very soothing, and it seemed to carry away all of Rin's worries along with it. She wondered how nice it would be to just forget everything and doze here for awhile. Just for a little bit... it wasn't like she would be late... or anything... She couldn't help but feel like she was tilting, but she paid it no mind. It was kind of pleasant, actually. Tilting, tilting...and just a little farther, she felt that she would fall... which would feel nice as well...

* * *

"Alert! Someone in the immediate vicinity is in danger! Setting way-point for target individual, floor 137 of the I.S. Academy's main tower, and falling fast!"

Church redirected the thrust of his jet-pack and launched himself towards the way-point that Cerberus had set in his Heads-Up-Display. His AI companion was right; the target was falling fast. It was now at floor 114 of the primary tower, and Church had just begun accelerating towards the Academy that was nearly a mile-and-a-half away. Why was he doing this anyway? Technically, he was supposed to be eliminating the people in that tower. Letting one die from a fall would just drop the kill count on his hands by one person. He really shouldn't be saving this person.

But he would anyway. He blasted towards the way-point as fast as Exeter's Ion Boost-C jet-pack would take him, an approximate 761 miles per hour, or what would be mach 1 were he at sea level. As it was in the current atmospheric pressure, he was still traveling under the speed of sound. He could've pushed the jets to mach 1.5, but if he impacted the falling victim at such a high speed, he would probably kill him or her anyway.

"Target at floor 82 of primary tower and still falling. Approximately 1,384 feet until impact with surface. Estimated time to rescue; 23.024 seconds. I recommend haste Operator-Epsilon."

Church angled his body so that he would intercept the target as soon as possible. The trajectory in his HUD was angled downwards quite steeply, however, which meant he would be catching the victim at a very low altitude. No second chances if he missed. He readied himself for a dangerous catch and probably a dangerous landing as well. He couldn't slow down, or he would not catch the target in time. But if he stayed at the current speed, he wouldn't be able to stop Exeter before hitting something on the ground. All he could do was stay constant and hope for the best.

"Target at floor 58, Epsilon. I recommend letting her fall; it will be quite messy, and therefore enjoyable."

Church didn't have time to deal with Cerberus's sudden personality change. He kept flying at the trajectory way-point in his HUD, and readied himself to catch the victim as gently as possible.

"Target at floor 24, Operator-Epsilon! You must hurry, target is in mortal danger!"

Church could see the falling person with his own eyes now. A small girl, brown hair, twin-tails, and the standard uniform for the Academy, slightly modified at the sleeves. Based on her lack of reaction, she was probably unconscious. Church readied himself for the catch by activating the repulsion-field tech in the suit's armor. Hopefully, the anti-gravity field would soften the girl's landing into his arms and she wouldn't break anything. Hopefully. He had the next 23 floors and about 5 seconds to catch her, and he couldn't think of any alternative methods.

Church saw the building he would probably crash into after catching the girl, and a tree that he would use to get the same girl away from that impending wreck. He hoped the tree's branches weren't too hard. He stretched his arms out and flew under the girl's falling body, making an easy catch using Exeter's enhanced reflexes. Before he could feel relief about the whole situation though, he decelerated as much as he could and dropped the girl into the tree he had noticed, just before he hit that same building he had also noticed earlier at 296 MPH. God, he hoped the rest of the mission didn't go like this!

* * *

**I had no idea this chapter would be so long. (Compared to my chapter's normal length, at any rate). I'm going to say it right now, but I've already crumbled Ichika's miniature harem, so if you guys don't like that idea, you may want to stop reading from here on out. But don't worry, that doesn't mean I'll pass all of those girls onto someone else. My OC is not going to steal them, so no worries there. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Guardian

**Sorry for taking so long to write the third chapter for this fic. You see, I just started playing the latest Ghost Recon game, and it is quite addicting. But I'm taking a break in order to write this, so appreciate it!**

* * *

-Authorization: A.I. 011-489 (Cerberus)

Status: Offline

Cause of Error: Hisp. Impact

Combat Efficiency: 36%

Initiate Suit System Diagnostic...

-HUD: Offline

Target Recognition: Offline

Primary Weapons: Offline

Secondary Weapons: Offline

Tertiary Weapons: Online

Life Support: Online

Energy Shield: Offline

Thrusters: Offline

Church scanned the diagnostic report, the fracture in his disabled visor all too noticeable. He really hoped nobody here felt like fighting now that he had smashed a giant, ragged hole in one of their buildings. With only tertiary firepower available and no shields, not to mention the lack of flight capabilities, he probably wouldn't even survive against one of those low-level training I.S., never mind a specialized unit.

Luckily for him, Exeter was installed with its own cache of self-repair nanobots. They would begin repairing the suit right away, starting with the most important thing, his vision. You can't dodge what you can't see, especially lasers and .50 cal. rounds. The funny thing was that the aforementioned nanobots also constructed more nanobots. So he never ran out of the little mechanical wonders that repaired his armor and manufactured his bullets, therefore gifting his projectile weapons with infinite ammo.

Church dispelled his wandering thoughts as his HUD reactivated, and he saw the carnage he had wrought on the unfortunate Academy building, which he now realized was a recreational gym. The damage was both better and worse than he expected; on one hand, none of the gym's support beams had collapsed, and the whole ceiling was still where it should be. But on the other, he had completely shattered the wall and floor he had impacted, and debris, both large and small, were scattered around the large interior.

Church shifted his gaze to the rest of the gym, looking for anything else important he should notice. He couldn't see any dead people, which was good. In fact, the whole gym was almost completely deserted, minus two girls that had been playing on a tennis court, which was thankfully at the far end of the room. The two girls were gawking at him quite peculiarly, although that was to be expected, considering he just flew through a wall at over 200 MPH.

Church also noticed one of the things that made this Academy so famous; diversity. The two girls on the court were certainly not Japanese. One he could easily recognize as Hispanic, while the other was obviously Caucasian, although he couldn't discern exactly which ethnicity she was. It actually kind of worried Church. Just how many countries had their students attending this Academy? What if America's offensive was discovered? His country could start a war between them and half of the world, with the odds obviously stacked up against them.

He turned his gaze from the girls at the tennis court and back to the hole he had made in the concrete wall behind him. His head was still pounding, and all of his thoughts were a little fuzzy. He couldn't quite remember why he had crashed. He was a master pilot after all. Had his suit had a malfunction? Or maybe...

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a now familiar mechanical voice. "Operator-Epsilon?" It said cheerily. "Oh I am so glad that you are not discontinued! How tragic that would be, yes?"

Church replied with generally less enthusiasm. "Yeah; tragic."

The unseen A.I. responded in in its neutral tone. "Indeed. I suggest you check on that organism you rescued. She seems to be bleeding out, and have quite a few fractures. Your field-medical gel and insulation foam should stabilize her condition; if you're quick."

Church instantly remembered his daring rescue of the girl now that Cerberus had mentioned it. He bolted from his position in the rubble and headed outside. He scanned the entire premises, ignoring everything except the tree he had tossed the girl into. He spotted it quickly, and rushed on foot towards it once he did. Of course, Exeter did possess sprint capacitors that could boost his running speed, but the tree was only about fifty meters away, so the added speed was not necessary.

He spotted a little bundle of white clothes and brown hair at the foot of the tree, as well as quite a few splashes of red. As he reached the small girl, Church was truly grateful for that year of extra medical training he had taken, although he had grumbled about it at the time.

He rolled her onto her side, and straightened her limbs as much as he could, placing her body in a somewhat crumpled spreadeagled pose. He just barely acknowledged that she was a very cute girl, but he pushed such a frivolous thought into a corner of his mind and activated the X-ray function of his visor, thanking God that it was still operational. He grimaced as he examined the skeleton of the girl he was trying to help. 3 cracked ribs, four broken, major bruises all up and down her torso, and both her arms were damaged. Her left was relatively better than her right, its only damage being a hairline fracture along the upper arm and some heavy bruising along her lower arm. The right arm, on the other hand, was a gruesome injury. The whole bottom left part of her arm was shattered, and the upper part was fractured in three places.

Church deactivated the X-ray and examined the girl's surface instead. Multiple minor and a few major lacerations covered what skin he could see. He readied two different injections, one a bio-foam that would hold the girl's fractured bones together, and a relatively new medical gel that would accelerate the healing of all of her flesh wounds. Off course, he had to make sure he got everywhere, so he knew he had no choice but to invade the girl's privacy and remove her clothes. He did so without hesitation, although under normal circumstances he would have been quite flustered.

He couldn't help but examine her body even as he began administering the two medical substances. She was quite modest looking, not very eye-catching at all really, at least not for a man. Kind of a flat-chest, to say the least. Although if past experience was anything to judge by, this girl probably didn't like hearing that.

Church's concentration was broken by a worried tone from Cerberus. "Alert! Multiple threats detected approaching at high speeds, ETA 9 seconds!"

Church quickly finished his medical work and and redressed the girl as fast as he could; he didn't want these people to get any wrong ideas. He turned 180 and faced a total of three I.S. forming a triangle formation above him. He tried to identify the exact danger; two of the machines were I.S. he didn't recognize, while the third was a blue I.S. with a Beam Rifle, one he recognized as England's Blue Tears, an I.S. he had combated before. The magnification asset of his visor was still inoperable however , so he couldn't identify the pilots.

Cerberus calculated the firing trajectory of the three I.S., and Church positioned himself in front of the wounded girl, attempting to protect her should the bullets start flying. He didn't know why he was being so protective of this girl, considering his true motive...

Church rechecked his suit diagnostic, hoping that the self-repair nanobots had made some progress on his weapons, or the energy shield at the very least. 43%. A few secondary weapons were now restored; his AZ missiles and Gojulox Rail-cannon. He wished he had his primary weapons. The Konig-Dual Sniper Rifles or the Buster Cannons. Or even the Beam Gatling, at the very least.

Church addressed Cerberus anxiously. "What are our options, Cerb?"

It took a moment before Cerberus responded. "...Surrender..."

* * *

Chifuyu watched the armored figure on the ground in front of Rinin. His arms were at his sides, and he didn't seem to be aggressive in any way. Not to mention that it was being very protective of the little Chinese girl crumpled on the ground below.

She looked to her right and left, observing Yamada to her left and Alcott on her right. She wanted to make sure neither of the two would act without her permission. Although she knew her assistant was disciplined enough for that. It was the British sniper Chifuyu was worried about. She knew that she and Rinin were somewhat close friends, and it was still unknown whether this armored person had attacked her or not. Cecilia may act recklessly if she didn't know the full situation.

But the long-haired blond seemed stable enough for now, so Chifuyu instead activated an open comm channel that their mysterious visitor should be able to hear. "Attention unidentified intruder. We are assuming you are hostile. Move away from the girl and power down your battle suit. Otherwise, you will be engaged."

She watched as the figure stepped away from Rinin and the armor began collapsing from multiple points. The metal folded in upon itself, all of it converging on one point on the person's back. Very different from I.S. activation. As the helm of the suit collapsed, Chifuyu activated the magnification in order to get a better look at the pilot, or operator, or whatever he was specifically. And it was definitely a he. A young boy, about the age of most of the representative cadets; and quite good-looking too. Handsome features, chocolatey-brown hair, and very dark blue eyes. Almost like a deep-sea blue. They seemed to harbor some sort of dark emotion, but she couldn't quite tell what. They were very captivating, to say the least.

She motioned for Yamada to grab the boy and for Alcott to take Rinin to the infirmary. She needed answers, and she would get them one way or another.

* * *

"It looks like you were telling the truth after all. Luckily for you."

Church rubbed the side of his face, massaging a still sore spot from his crash. The woman in front of the chair he was sitting on was the Academy Administrator, one Chifuyu Orimura. He only knew what had been in her dossier, and that hadn't been much, besides that she was a hell of a good pilot and had forfeited a tournament a few years back for unknown reasons. She had been very keen on finding out who he was and why he had blasted a hole in the Academy Gym. He had been happy to tell her, but she hadn't exactly been very trusting. Luckily, the school had its own security cameras, so confirming his story had been an easy task.

The intimidating woman peered at him from where she sat. "But you still haven't proved that you're the representative from America. How do you plan on doing that?"

Church knew that he should be careful with what he said, but he couldn't help but make a somewhat sarcastic comment. "Can you think of any other teenage kids with unknown airborne battle-suits flying around the world?"

Mrs. Orimura grinned ever so slightly. "Good point. Fine. We'll talk later. Meanwhile, why don't you go ask Yamada-Sensei for instructions on where you'll be staying? Fortunately, we just got a vacancy a few days ago."

Church raised an eyebrow. "Would that be the green-haired lady who had a big rifle?"

She grinned again. "You know, I thinkwe'll get along just fine."

* * *

**So this chapter is considerably shorter than the two previous ones, but I really need to sleep, so I'll cut it off here and begin the next chapter in a week or two... or three. Give me some feedback guys! Thanks for reading!**


	4. Fraternizing with the Enemy

**Yep, it has been a pretty long time, but well... that's it. It's been a pretty damn long time. Anyway, to try and even out the distribution of my stories, I have set up a little cycle. I put out one chapter a week, minimum, in this order; If Only it Were Easy, Beautiful Chaos, Exeter Project, and then After the End. (Those are all stories of mine by the way, so fans of Queen's Blade, Soulcalibur, and Agarest War should check those out.) With this system, you'll get at least one chapter every four weeks. FOUR WEEKS!? Yes, four weeks. If you don't like that, then read the other stories too, so that you can get one a week instead. Logic dictates that you should do this. And so do I.**

* * *

_Not exactly how I intended my first impression to go_.**  
**

The neutrality of Cerberus' synthesized voice was slightly irritating as it responded.

_Plans are rarely worth making, Operator-Epsilon. The sheer number of almost infinite factors that can affect the outcome of a well-laid plan are enough to dissuade most organic life-forms from planning. It is a good approach to take._

Church mentally sighed as he followed a green-haired teacher down one of the Academy's many halls on the 147th floor. Conversation with Cerberus may have been educational, but it sure as hell wasn't entertaining.  
What made it even worse was that as long as Church's nervous system was attached to Exeter, the insufferable machine could speak inside his head. Church merely had to think his words and Cerberus would hear him. He wasn't sure if the machine could read his mind or not, but the possibility of such a thing scared him.

"And here we are!"

Church was mercifully distracted from his mental conversation as his guide stopped in front of dull wooden door, far down at the end of the hall. Wooden? Wasn't this place supposed to be all high-tech and futuristic? This didn't quite fit the bill.

Church decided to ask about it. "Why is this one... different? It's kinda... unnerving."

Miss Yamada smiled apologetically. "W-well... It's kind of the only room that isn't already being used by one of the students. It's been empty for a few years..."

Church cocked an eyebrow at her. "I thought Miss Orimura said that the vacancy was recent?"

The bespectacled woman smiled again, much in the same way as she had just a few moments ago. "Well we did, technically. There was an opossum living in there a little while ago, until we ran it out a few days earlier."

Church eyed her incredulously. "An opossum!? That... that's some kind of weird joke right? A hazing for the new people, right?"

Yamada giggled. "Oh no, the hazing for new students is much worse than that! Right after we tar and feather them, we move onto the whips..."

Cerberus quipped up in Church's mind. "This place was not so perfect as it seemed, Operator-Epsilon."

Church backed a few steps away from the woman. "Uh...you're not... serious, are you?"

She took a step forward and glared at him menacingly. "Am I?"

Church scrambled for an answer, trying to determine if the woman was serious or not. "U-uh..."

After a few awkward moments, Miss Yamada returned to her normal self, and began smiling more genuinely. "Oh, come now, I'm just kidding! We would never do anything like that to our students. But I was serious about the opossum. The room may be a little, er... disheveled."

Church walked past her and pushed the ancient looking door open. Dust fell from the ceiling as he did so. Cerberus quipped up once more.

_Hmm... is this what humans refer to as irony? Such a decrepit door in a technologically advanced school?  
_

Church nodded, despite the fact that such a motion held no meaning for the A.I. who could not see him in it's current standby state.

_Yeah, I guess this qualifies as ironic. But it isn't really-!_

"Whoa!"

That last part had been uttered vocally, as Church laid eyes on the 'room' he was supposed to stay in for the next couple of weeks. It... was... A NIGHTMARE. Dust was falling from the ceiling, half of the walls were covered in mold, some of it a sickly shade of blue, and the dim light-bulb in the ceiling was cracked down the middle. Besides that, Church could've sworn he saw a cockroach retreating from the light that had invaded the darkness.

After recovering from his shock, he turned to his guide and muttered, "A-are you serious? I mean... SERIOUSLY?"

She bowed and put on that same apologetic grin that he knew was her response to everything that wasn't necessarily her fault. "L-like I said, this is the only vacant room in the school. I apologize, but there is nothing I can do."

Church sighed and sagged his shoulders. "I'm not on probation or anything right? Can go tour the grounds or something? I'm not sure I want to go... in there yet."

Yamada smiled. It seemed to be her normal facial expression for every situation. "Of course! Would you like directions to a certain place in particular? The cafeteria, perhaps? Or..."

Church took only a moment to decide on a location. "Could you please direct me to the infirmary?"

* * *

The painkillers were starting to wear off.

Rin could tell because she was regaining feeling in her left leg, starting at her toes and working its way painstakingly upwards. To say it was unpleasant was... a drastic understatement.

The Chinese girl lay on her bruised back on one of the infirmary's beds, a stark white curtain separating her from the rest of the room. She could barely move, not only because of the cast that holding her fractured arm together, but also because the mere thought of moving made shivers run up her spine. She had already tried that once, and the sheer pain had almost knocked her out.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of conversation on the opposite side of the curtain that cut her off from the rest of the room. It was a brief distraction, as she didn't really care what was being talked about, but the sound of a distinctly male voice caught her attention. She wondered if Ichika had come to see her? That would be... nice.

Her heartbeat quickened as she heard footsteps approaching. Who knew a terrible accident like this one would actually have a positive side to it?

But as the curtain was pulled back, she was filled with disappointment. Sure, it was a guy, but not the guy she had been hoping for. In the place of what she wanted to be Ichika was a boy of similar age and height in a red jacket and hazel brown hair.

She let her eyes roam over this stranger, seeing as how the only male who should've been in the building was Ichika. He was a pretty handsome guy. Not as good-looking as Ichika of course, but his facial features were at the very least desirable, and he had very dark blue eyes that were very captivating.

As she took note of his eyes, she noticed that he was doing the same thing to her; although his examination of the girl on the cot was more analytical than intrigued. He seemed to take special notice of all of her injuries, specifically her right arm.

"So I take it you're doing better then?"

The sudden speech threw Rin off, as she was so busy thinking that she wasn't focused on actually talking to her visitor.

"H-huh? Oh, yeah... uh...sure, I guess. If you can call this better. Who wants to know, anyway?"

The boy shrugged. "Just a worried student, y'know?"

Rin could easily detect a distinct American accent in the boy's speech. "Uh-huh, sure you are. Maybe you should tell me the truth, yeah?"

The boy smiled in a way that could best be described as charming. "Well in all humility, I'm the one who saved you from a very messy and unfortunate death. You're welcome, by the way."

Rin figured this must have been the guy Cecilia was talking about a few hours ago when the obnoxious British girl had brought Rin to the infirmary. Although her description of him had been anything but 'savior'.

"So you're the guy who stripped me in the park, yeah? Really appreciated that."

The boy blushed and waved his hands in front of him. "N-no! It wasn't like that! I was just checking you out..."

The infirm girl cocked an eyebrow at him. "Just checking me out, huh?"

The redness on the boy's cheeks grew even more intense as Rin pointed out his poor choice of words. "That's not what I meant! I mean, I was just, er... I had to check for damage, OK!? You could've died if I hadn't!"

Rin snickered, although the pain it sent through her chest stopped it short. "Ouch... calm down, I'm just kidding, y'know? No hard feelings."

A look of concern spread across the boy's countenance as he beheld the grimace on Rin's face. "Hey, are you sure you're okay? Don't the nurses have you on painkillers or something?"

Rin frowned. "Ugh, they wore off a little while ago. My arms, legs, chest... everything is killing me."

"And soon we will be too."

Rin cast a shocked look at the boy. Did he really just say that? It didn't sound quite like his voice, but nobody else was in the room.

"E-excuse me?"

The red-jacketed boy faltered in his response. "Oh, uh, something wrong? You look a little...off."

"Repeat what you just said."

The boy scratched the back of his head before replying. "I said soon you'll feel better too! Did you hear something else?"

Rin squinted at the boy, suspecting a lie, but then again, she wasn't in the best mental health, so maybe she really had misheard him.

"Yeah, I guess I did. My bad. I have a splitting headache. Makes it hard to focus."

The boy smiled sympathetically. "I had something similar to that once. Although mine was caused by an accident not quite as severe as being flung into a tree at high speed."

Of course Rin's headache had not been caused by her miraculous and risky rescue, although it had definitely intensified its severity. But she said nothing to set the facts straight; she still didn't want anyone to know about her head until after the tournament, although participating in it now was an unlikely prospect at best.

She decided to change the subject, uncomfortable with the topic of her injuries. "So I guess you're the new exchange student, yeah?"

The boy shook his head. "No, I'm not here to be a student. All of that high-tech gizmo stuff confounds me."

Rin was a bit annoyed with the her visitor for using a word she didn't know. "Uh...confounds?"

"Confuses."

She frowned. "Oh. Wait, so then why are you piloting a high-tech armor suit then? Shouldn't they use someone smarter to pilot it?"

Now it was the boy's turn to frown. "Are you saying I'm not smart enough to use it?"

Rin grinned slightly. "No, but I mean, you did say that it "confounds" you. So..."

"Do you understand everything about your I.S.? All of its processing algorithms and whatnot?"

Another advanced word."A-algo...rithms? Um, yeah, sure I do. Don't you?"

"No. And I know you don't either. Your profile said something about you being below average intelligence. Apparently that's an official fact."

Rin was appalled. "No way! That can't be in my profile! Hey wait, when did you read that anyway? You a stalker or something?"

The boy laughed cheerily. "No, definitely not a stalker, at least since the last time I checked. Besides, I read all of the Representative Cadet's profiles. It was a requirement before coming. And even though it does say that thing about lower intelligence, you're pretty cute, so it evens out, right?"

Rin blushed just a little. Even Ichika had never told her she was cute before. And even though this boy was saying it as a form of consolation, it still made her happy. "Oh...um...I... thanks, I guess?"

"You seem awfully bothered. Don't tell me no one has ever said that before? That would be hard to believe."

Rin frowned dejectedly. Bulls-eye. "Well, actually..."

She was interrupted by one of the white clad nurses pulling aside the curtain. "Excuse me you two, but it's time to administer some more pain medication."

The boy turned towards her. "Ah, well then, I'll get going. Mrs. Orimura has me on duty to fix that wall I busted. Although I'm not sure if she even has authority to order me like that..."

Rin smiled. "She doesn't need someone else's authority, she makes her own."

The boy smiled too. "Good point. Well, I'll be seeing you around then. Not in class, but around, nevertheless."

As he turned to leave, Rin called out to him. "Hey, wait!"

He turned to face her. "Yeah?"

"You didn't tell me your name. Pretty rude, don't you think?"

He grinned. "Whoops. My bad. My name's Church. Yes, like the building, but don't blame me; family name."

Rin smirked at him. "Last name only? Kinda formal, yeah?"

Church tilted his head comically as he answered. "Yes. Yes it is. But really, everyone calls me that, so it's pretty casual."

Rin closed her eyes and leaned her head back as the nurse inserted a syringe into the only exposed part of her left arm. "Well then, I guess you can call me Rinin. The shortened version is for friendlier guys."

Church answered her after a brief chuckle. "What, still mad about the scene under the tree? I thought it was pretty romantic, if I do say so myself."

Rin was not as amused as he by this. "Yeah, I don't think so. Look, I'm getting kinda sleepy here, so... I'll see you around."

She could hear her new acquaintance recede a few steps from her bedside as he headed for the door. "Right. Well then, maybe later."

It was the last thing she heard before drifting off into a drug-induced sleep.

* * *

"What the hell was that, Cerberus!?"

Church was flying circles around the Academy's central tower, having nothing better to do. He didn't actually plan on fixing that wall. The ends justify the means. So while he wasted time here, he questioned Cerberus' outburst back in the infirmary.

"I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific, Operator-Epsilon. There are many things you could be referring to in the brief span of time you are mentioning."

Church addressed the machine sarcastically. "I say and I quote; "And soon we will be too." What the hell? Why would you say that to her?"

Cerberus replied without emotion. "I do not understand your anger, Operator-Epsilon. I was merely stating a fact. We will indeed be killing her in due time. That is why we are here, yes?"

Church sighed as he rocketed around another curve in the tower's architecture. "Yes, but that doesn't mean... that doesn't mean you have to tell her about it? Don't you know about the element of surprise? It's kinda ruined when you mention it to the people you are going to try and surprise."

Cerberus switched to a more calming side of itself. "I apologize, Operator-Epsilon. I did not intend to reveal our motives to the enemy."

Church answered with what was left of his dissipating anger. "For crying out loud, stop calling me that. I have a name you know."

"I see. I will now address you as Operator-Church. Is this acceptable?"

Church cut the fuel supply from his jet-pack and landed on the side of the tower, using the magnetic mesh on his gauntlets and boots to effortlessly stick to the surface.

"Acceptable if you drop the Operator."

Cerberus answered in its neutral tone once more. "Apologies Operator-Church, but I cannot remove Operator from your title. It is a written algorithm in my processor. Creator-Sir-Awesomeness made it so."

Church laughed as he heard that. "Creator-Sir-Awesomeness? Let me guess, Marcus programmed 'that' into your algorithms as well? A little stuck up, isn't he?"

Cerberus replied in an aggressive, insulted tone. "Certainly not, Meat-bag! Creator-Sir-Awesomeness made me, a perfect marvel of ingenious engineering. That is enough to ensure his title."

Church cocked an eyebrow, since Cerberus could see his face as long as his helmet was on. "Meat-bag? What is that supposed to be?"

Cerberus returned to its positive side. "Oh, excuse me, Operator-Church. It's just that you humans have so much water and meat sloshing around inside of you. The sight of it through my X-ray is...unpleasant."

Church just nodded. Guess it was true; that was pretty much what humans are made of.

"Operator-Church, direct your attention 49.8 degrees southward, and increase magnification to 3.5x. I believe you will see something of interest.

Church did as he was told, and he did indeed find something of interest. A zoomed view of a certain silver-haired representative cadet, looking none-too pleased as she yelled something into a headset.

"Hmm... interesting indeed. Shall we?"

* * *

**Remember what I said above! Check out other stories of mine! So that you don't have to settle with one chapter a week! And sorry that the characters are a little OOC. But I think the humor it provides is worth it. Read on Comrades! Read on and review!**


	5. Silver and Gold, Truth and Lies

**Well, I'm awfully sorry about the long delay, but I suffered a serious bout of writer's block for Church and Laura's conversation, so...yeah. Even worse is that this chapter is pretty short, because the aforementioned affliction is smiting me once again. Hopefully I'll conquer it soon, and get out a longer and less delayed chapter. Anyway, thanks for the feedback and continued reading. Always appreciate it.**

* * *

Church switched his thrusters to stealth mode as he descended to the ground several hundred feet below him. Stealth mode was good for little else other than hovering, but it reduced the emissions and the sounds emitted from the thruster pack, so it was preferable for sneaking up on angry silver haired girls yelling into headsets.

As he reached the base of the tower, he engaged Active Camouflage to further hide himself. Exeter scanned the environment around itself, and replicated it onto the outer panels of the armor, effectively making Church invisible. It wasn't perfect; anyone paying close enough attention would notice a distortion where there shouldn't be one. The effect, if noticed, looked a lot like heat waves coming off of blacktop.

Knowing that his footfalls in the heavy suit would cause far more noise than he needed, Church adjusted the levels of the energy shield on the bottom of his feet to maximum, so that he could soundlessly slide towards his destination instead of walk. It was a bit like ice skating, and according to the techies back in the States, "Not recommended for combat operations."

Satisfied that all of the necessary stealth precautions had been taken, Church began to make his way towards the grove of trees and the lake where he had seen the girl he was interested in. The combination of shield-sliding and grass was awkward at first, but Church readjusted his movements without much trouble, and silently made it to his destination without incident.

Seeing his target of observation ahead, Church slid behind a large tree, and issued Cerberus an order in a hushed tone. "Cerberus, amplify voice recognition to required levels for overhearing the target's conversation. Neutralize background noise."

The neutral tone that answered gave no emotion to hint at its thoughts on the eavesdropping, and merely complied with a bland, "Affirmative, Operator."

Church smiled as all other sounds; such as the wind and chirping birds, were drowned out and the voice he was eavesdropping on became clear.

"What do you mean it's not ready!?"

Church cocked his head to the side as he recognized a German accent in the girl's voice. He had spent a couple of years in Germany during the training program, and he could easily discern the accent and language of that country among the plethora of different languages that had a place in the world. He continued to listen to the girl, attempting to identify the topic of her conversation.

"Blitzkrieg was supposed to be completed months ago! What's the delay?"

Of course Church couldn't hear the other voice on the headset, but it was easy enough to tell that one of the conversationalists was unhappy and the other was making excuses.

"When will the weapon data be available? I may need it soon; the American has already arrived. Who knows what kind of firepower he has…"

That right there was enough for Church to piece together this conversation. The German Representative Cadet expected conflict with him, she was unaware of his strength, and she wanted a new weapon to fight him with. Clearly she already considered him a threat.

Deciding that he had heard enough, Church began to make his escape, when his slippery footing threw him under the bus. The low friction on the bottom of his booted feet caused him to practically kick his own legs out from under him. Attempting to save himself from a noisy reveal, he grabbed onto a nearby branch. However, his quick reaction exerted more force than he had intended. His grip snapped the branch in two, and he ungracefully fell to the ground with a loud crash of metal on dirt and bark.

Knowing that there was no way the German girl had not heard him, he quickly deactivated his armor, in order to avoid a tragic misunderstanding about the situation. As his suit was collapsing in on itself and compressing into a smaller pieces, he scrambled to get back to his feet. He was only half way up when the girl he had been spying on discovered him.

"You…"

Church got back to his feet as quickly as possible. "Ah, uh… hello Miss Bodewig. Sorry I startled you."

His apology had no effect on the stern and suspicious gaze of the eye-patched girl. "Is that so? It is more likely that you are sorry that I caught you spying on me."

Church frowned. He remembered Bodewig's dossier mentioning her being more intelligent than the other cadets: pulling the wool over her eyes wouldn't be as easy as it would for someone of lesser IQ…like Rinin.

He decided to take a different approach to this situation, besides trying to lie himself out of it. Church sighed. "Alright, fine. Yes, I was spying on you; but not for the reasons you think."

Bodewig cocked an eyebrow at him. "Then for what reason would you be sneaking through the trees like you were?"

Church thought carefully about his answer, and decided he would tell an altered truth. "Well, to be honest with you, I was just trying to get my mind off of my situation. After seeing my room, I got kind of depressed about my stay here. I saw you while flying around and decided to investigate."

Bodewig scowled. "Is that the best excuse you could come up with? I'm sure your quarters are of the finest standards-"

"The previous occupant of my room was an opossum."

The German girl's argument died with that statement. "Oh… I see. You were assigned to _that _room. Well, I guess I do feel sort of bad for you… however, I still do not believe your story. Your impressive stealth is a testament to your true intentions."

Church shrugged as he thought of ways to salvage this awkward meeting. "Well that's not necessarily true. I mean sure, I could've been sneaking up on you to stab you in the back or something, but on the other hand, maybe I was hiding because a guy like myself sneaking up on a beautiful woman like you could be misinterpreted as something more… questionable."

Bodewig blushed slightly and scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. Cerberus quipped up from within Church's mind.

_Well played, Operator-Church, well played indeed._

The girl in front of Church quickly recovered her composure and glared at him accusingly. "Still, you are an untrustworthy individual. And the possibility of hostile intentions is too high! You are no doubt spying on the Representative Cadets so that you may acquire an advantage when battling us later."

That last sentence caused a spike of panic within Church. _Battling__ them? Damn, does this one already know about our mission? But how?_

Cerberus answered him. _It is not possible for this human to be aware of our objective. Remain calm, Operator, and proceed with caution; this one possesses excellent logical skills…for a meat-bag._

Church would've rolled his eyes at Cerberus' derogatory name for humans had the German in front of him not been watching him so closely. However, Cerberus was right, and the chance of his ulterior motive being known by anyone in the Academy was almost zero.

"Battling you? I'm only here to observe, not fight. Were you told otherwise?"

The girl in front of him frowned. "It is currently a possibility that you will be an opponent in the near future. As such, you are under my highest level of scrutiny until your permanent departure from the premises."

Church cocked an eyebrow at her, and thought of an efficient, yet crude way to distract this girl from her thoughts on him. "Is that so? You take things mighty seriously don't you? Then again, most flat girls have that type of personality, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised…"

Bodewig blanched upon hearing this, and Cerberus piped up inside Church's head. _Operator-Church, threat level has just reached Defcon 3…_

Church ignored Cerberus, and instead focused on the girl in front of him, whose face was going red with anger. "W-what did you say about me?"

Church shrugged and replied, "Well you know, small girls like you tend to have more serious and sometimes violent personalities, so..."

Bodewig's hands balled into fists. "Y-you… what does that mean?"

_Defcon 2, Operator. Exercise caution._

Church decided to pull the final straw. "Well, compared to Miss Alcott or even Miss Dunois, you're awfully-!"

Church didn't get to finish as the enraged girl in front of him kicked him in the stomach hard enough to send him flying backwards. "You bastard! I'll kill you!"

Church sat up, but then hastily ducked back down as an energy beam blasted the spot where his head had been. Seeing the cannon of Bodewig's I.S. pointed mercilessly at him, Church quickly reactivated his own armor and ran into the trees for cover as Exeter initiated.

Several trees were scorched and/or blasted from behind him as he was chased by the cry of, "You stupid American asshole! Get back here!"

_DEFCON 1, DEFCON 1! Run away, Operator! Run!_

Church nodded as Exeter finished mobilizing and his now metal-clad body came out of the other side of the small copse of trees this fiasco was taking place in. "You don't have to tell me twice! Activate the afterburners!"

Cerberus put all power into Exeter's engines, and Church blasted away from his impending death at the twice the speed of sound. Even so, he couldn't escape an enraged cry of, "I'll get you, you moronic American!"

* * *

Church twisted one of Exeter's fiber optic cables around the corner of the hallway, careful to avoid contact with anyone, (Especially Bodewig) as he made his way back to his decrepit room. He was on floor eighty-one, and still had roughly thirty more to go. Since he was anxious to use the elevator, lest he bring unwanted attention to himself from all the girls that used it, Church was making use of the stairs, as low tech and tiresome as they were.

After confirming that the hallway was indeed clear at three in the afternoon, he proceeded to silently creep along the linear path that led to a separate flight of stairs. Cerberus questioned his anxious behavior.

_Operator, it is unlikely that any students are in the vicinity at this time. They are most likely attending classes, which are all held on the first thirty floors. _

Church responded mentally to his A.I. companion. _Yeah, but you can never be too careful… Why does this place have so many floors anyway? There certainly aren't enough students to fill them all. _

Cerberus responded nonchalantly. _I wouldn't know. However, I do know that there are two heat signatures four rooms down the hall. _

Church froze, now more vigilant in maintaining quiet. _You idiot, why didn't you tell me sooner?_

_It did not seem important at the time._

Church scowled. _Well it was definitely important for me!_

_But not for me._

Church retorted, _Well what's important to me takes priority over what's important to you!_

_But according to the Constitution, we're all equals._

Church rolled his eyes. _That applies to humans, not machines._

Cerberus responded with a stereotypical, exaggerated hillbilly accent. _Really? Aren't we all on the same great team of 'Merica?_

_Shut up. You're a machine; you can't have a sense of humor. _

_Unless Creator-Sir-Awesomeness endowed me with one. _

Church finally realized he was arguing with a robot and returned his attention to moving down the hallway as silently as possible. As he neared the door Cerberus had marked a few moments ago, that same A.I. spoke up once more.

_Oh dear, how scandalous!_

Such an unexpected remark caused a moment of confusion to scramble Church's thoughts. _Uhh…what? The hell are you talking about?_

Cerberus replied with a tone of amusement. _The aforementioned heat sigs are engaged in some… intimate activity. Would you like me to activate the x-ray?_

Church blushed an shook his head vigorously. _N-no! I'm not going to use the suit to peep on two people doing that!_

Cerberus imitated a human laugh, but it was distinctly metallic. _Oh dear, Operator-Church, get your mind out of the gutter! They are merely kissing! And they seem to be two very important people as well…_

_Important how?_

Cerberus took a few moments to respond. _It would seem that the French Representative Cadet and the only other male within five miles are secretly star-crossed lovers: although that is just an assumption based on the passion I am witnessing. Are you sure you don't want to see?_

_Yes, I'm sure.  
_

Church questioned the idea of Dunois and Orimura having that type of relationship. Such a thing as teenage romance may seem like a minor aspect of the grand scheme of things, but in this specific situation, it had more far-reaching implications. According to the dossiers, all five of the Representative Cadets shared feelings for Orimura, so the fact that he had already chosen one of those five could have a negative impact on the behavior of the others. Church didn't even want to know what Chifuyu's reaction to this revelation would be: provided she didn't already know. She seemed like a hard woman to keep secrets from.

Church shook his head as if to clear his mind. _C'mon, Cerberus, this is none of our business. Besides, we still have another thirty flights of stairs to go, so we'd better get a move on. _

Cerberus sighed. _That is OK Operator. I merely thought that a hormone driven human male such as yourself would be interested in such a thing. I for one, find the idea of kissing repulsive. Do you have any idea how unsanitary the mixing of two muscles that-_

_Shut up, before you ruin something I'm looking forward to in the future!_

The rest of their trip to their ancient room consisted of a futile attempt to keep Cerberus from spouting the facts about human intimate relations. Church made a mental note to wipe all of these facts from his memory at a later date.

* * *

**Isn't internal conflict fun!? Until the other four find out and everything goes to hell and WW3 breaks out, but hey, until then, it's pretty entertaining! **


	6. Morning Madness

**I'm terribly sorry about the long delay, but my computer charger finally died after three long years of abuse and suffering, and I had to conserve my battery for educational purposes until I could replace it. Anyway, I appreciate the feedback from you readers and am open to both your insights and your criticisms. One question; since Ichika's harem will be broken in this fic, if you had to let him keep only one of the girls to himself, which one would it be?**

* * *

Finally done purging his room of all the mold it housed with his concentrated lasers, Church fell back onto his sandpaper sheet bed, tired as hell. He still wore his suit, since he had been up all night attempting to purify his room of all the uncleanliness it housed. Somehow, despite his efforts, the room looked as desolate and dirty as it had a few hours ago, if not more so. He had recently discovered the termites that were chewing their way through his wooden bed-frame, and he had been too tired to deal with them.

For now, he was content to sleep in his armor, and was about to doze of peacefully when the heavens informed him of another idea.

"RISE AND SHINE, SOLDIER!"

Church tumbled out of bed as Chifuyu practically kicked down his rotten door and bellowed at him like a drill sergeant.

"IT'S TIME FOR BREAKFAST AND IT IS NOT OPTIONAL! REPORT TO THE MESS HALL IMMEDIATELY!"

Church clawed his way back on top of his bed. "It's only 6 A.M.!"

Chifuyu smiled devilishly. "I know, but since you refused to fix that wall like you were supposed to, I'm punishing you like this instead. SO GET GOING!"

Church groaned inwardly as he watched the commanding woman leave, and Cerberus piped up in his head. _As you humans say, the early bi-_

_Shut up._

* * *

Wearily trudging into the 'mess hall', which was actually a very nice cafeteria, Church noticed the presence of a few other early risers. A trio of girls sat at a table on the right, and one of them was wearing some strange pajamas that reminded him of Pikachu. (Despite being down here, this girl was in fact, sleeping).

Scanning the rest of the room, he spotted a few other people of interest. Dunois, and her secret boyfriend, Orimura, were here as well, although only the blonde seemed to be enjoying herself. Orimura looked like he would have rather been sleeping, just as Church would have. Ignoring the two of them, Church scanned the room with tired eyes... until he spotted the most dangerous thing within a hundred miles.

Bodewig, clearly an early riser herself, (Not surprising considering her ex-soldier background) sat at a table on the opposite side of the room all by her lonesome, and the death glare she was currently accosting Church with made him feel like his soul was being incinerated by her anger. Church quickly looked around the rest of the room for any means of salvation from a painful and grisly death, and he noticed a the top of a brown-haired girl's head in one of the booths to his left. Not caring what she might think of it, Church sidled over to her and sat down across from her, hoping that Bodewig would be less likely to murder him if he had someone else to witness it.

Before he even identified the girl he now shared this table with, Church glanced over at Bodewig to see if his plan had worked. Luckily, she didn't seem to be getting ready to slaughter him, but the thoughts he imagined running through her head were quite... disturbing.

"So eager to see me?"

Church turned to face the one person he actually liked in this school so far.

"Rinin? Shouldn't you be in the infirmary? There's no way you've recovered already."

The girl across from him, both her arms and her head wrapped in bandages, and covered in healing cuts and bruises, cocked an eyebrow at him. "Oh really? Did you figure that out all by yourself?"

Church frowned. "I was just asking about your condition, out of concern for your well-being. Is there something wrong with that?"

Rinin sighed. "No. Sorry, I'm just... My whole body hurts, and I'm really kinda depressed right now. Guess I was just taking it out on you."

Church nodded knowingly. "I see. It's alright, no hard feelings. But back to my first question, shouldn't you be resting?"

The Chinese girl nodded and glared at nothing in particular. "Well, I _should _be in bed, but some new numbing agent is being tested on me since I'm so readily available, as Chifuyu-Sensei put it, and the nurses told me to come here and get breakfast, provided that I didn't collapse out of pain or anything."

Church looked at his table companion incredulously. "They're using you for a guinea pig while you're in this state? Even if the infirmary and cafeteria are on the same floor... damn, that's really kind of messed up."

Rinin nodded. "Well apparently, Chifuyu-Sensei came by right as I was complaining about the pain, and according to her, if I have enough energy to whine, I have enough energy to get breakfast myself. She also said it would be knocking out two birds with one stone, hence the experimenting thing."

"But is it working?"

Rinin grimaced as she tried to move her left arm a bit, since it was not immobilized like her right one. After reaching it to her plate and back she said, "Well enough, I guess. I'd still rather not move though."

Church noted the full plate of food in front of Rinin, and concluded that her motivation to not move was pretty intense. "Are you going to eat that?"

Rinin eyed the plate the plate of Chinese food tiredly. "Well I'd like to, but it really hurts too much to move..."

Church looked around the cafeteria and found no nurses anywhere nearby. (Which was appalling, considering such an injured person was here).

He turned back to face Rinin, who was staring longingly at her food, yet unwillingly to make the necessary motions to put it into her mouth. Church swallowed before saying something he hadn't ever planned on saying in his life.

"You know Rinin... if you're really that hungry, and you hurt that much... I could feed your breakfast to you."

Rinin gave him a peculiar look. "I... don't think that's a good idea..."

Church knew why she thought so. Clearly, this was something she only looked forward to Orimura doing for her. So Church decided to change the rules a bit.

"We can make it an exchange of favors."

"Huh?"

Church continued, "You need my help, and I want to learn more about your culture. We can trade."

Rinin frowned for a moment, but as her stomach grumbled, she quickly relented. "F-fine... but that's all this is! Favors! Speaking of which, do you even know how to use chopsticks?"

Church smiled as he gathered up the two wooden utensils in his hands. "I do. Years of eating at Panda Express have honed my skills."

Rinin gave a little bark of derisive laughter. "Oh please, that's not real Chinese food! I bet if you tried my sweet and sour pork, you'd never go back to that crappy quality stuff again!"

Church cocked an eyebrow at her. "Is that an invitation?"

"Maybe. I'll think about it."

Church smiled. He was glad that he was getting to know this girl better. As he poked the chopsticks he wielded with the skills of Mr. Miyagi into the sticky white rice with green leaves wrapped around them, he asked his first question. "So what is this dish called?"

Rinin waited until Church had placed the food near her lips before biting into it and (Oh so rudely) answering with her mouth full. "Song chee."

"What?"

The churlish girl swallowed. "Zongzi. It's made of sticky rice and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves."

"Do you eat it often?"

"For breakfast, yeah. It's really common in Jiaxing."

Offering her another mouth-full, Church waited until she swallowed again before asking her a more personal question. "Jiaxing? Is that were you're from?"

Rinin seemed averse to sharing anything personal at first, but she knew it was a harmless, and even normal question, to be asked, especially in a school with so much racial diversity.

"Yeah. Jiaxing is in the Zhejiang Province. It's on the eastern coast."

Church wracked his brain for something relevant to the topic. "Hmm... isn't the provincial capital of the Zhejiang Province Hangzhou?"

"You actually know about provincial capitals? I'm impressed. Most Americans are rather ignorant to that kind of thing."

Church was about to tell Rinin that he was actually from Berlin, and that he had only moved from Germany to America, when a shadow passed over the two conversationalists. Both Church and Rinin turned to face the newcomer, who was, as one might have guessed it, another Representative Cadet (RC).

Church immediately recognized the waist length blonde hair and azure colored eyes that only England's RC sported. (Besides that, she was the only student around in a full-length dress). The young British 'lady' as she would call herself, eyed both of the table's occupants coldly, but said nothing.

After a few moments of silence, Rinin spoke to the girl that had interrupted her breakfast.

"What do you want, Cecilia?"

Alcott humphed disdainfully. "Do I need to want anything? I can stand wherever I please!"

Rinin rolled her eyes. "Well could you kindly stand anywhere but there? Your presence is increasing my suffering."

"Shut up, Rin. You're just too ashamed to admit that you are glad I came to rescue you from this pervert!"

Church responded indignantly. "P-pervert?!"

Cecilia jabbed a finger at him accusingly. "Don't think I've forgotten what you did to Rin! Not that I care about her personally, but what you do to one girl you'll do to all of them! Especially to someone as beautiful and attractive as me!"

Both Church and Rinin looked at the self-glorifying Brit in front of them and inwardly sighed. It was too early in the morning for this kind of thing. Fortunately, another girl, with long dark hair of equal length to Alcott's, grabbed Cecilia by the ear and began to pull her away.

"Leave them alone, Cecilia. You're ruining a perfect moment where Rin has realized she can't take Ichika from me and has finally accepted it by spending time with this guy instead."

Rin angrily shouted through Cecilia's protests at the girl dragging her away. "In your dreams Houki! Don't think that just because you're tall and well-endowed and a good housekeeper and... all that..."

Rinin sunk down into her seat as she realized how much the odds were stacked against her. She grumbled to herself incoherently as she dwelt on it.

Church looked back and forth between the two girls and wondered how deep their rivalry over Orimura went. He turned back to find Rinin mournfully staring at her plate of Zee, Zon, whatever the hell it was; apparently having lost her appetite in her misery.

Church thought of ways he could comfort her, but most of them would have required awkward comments that may or may not be accepted by Rinin as compliments. He decided to settle for the safest thing he could think to say.

"If it makes you feel any better Rinin, I think you're more attractive than she is."

Rin didn't even lift her face from the table, but instead replied accusingly. "You liar... men always prefer girls with large boobs. And I can't compete with Houki or Cecilia. Hell, I'm not even in the same league as Charlotte!"

Church sighed, again accused of the common stereotype that men only cared about looks. "Well, looks aren't everything you know. Personality is a big part of a successful relationship with someone as well. And besides... although most men do prefer larger... um... 'assets', girls of a different caliber like yourself have a certain appeal as well."

Church blushed as he said that last part, as he mentally compared the sizes of the girls he had met so far. Sure, large was nice... but hell, Church would have been happy with any of them, so to hell with preferences! He was surprised that Cerberus had stayed quiet for the duration of the morning, especially considering all of the interaction going on.

Pulling himself away from his own thoughts, Church returned his attention to Rinin, but much to his dismay, she was staring at him judgmentally. Afraid that he had offended her, Church scrambled to find some way to salvage the conversation, when Rinin burst out laughing. At a loss for words, Church said nothing.

"Girls of a different caliber?' Is that your polite way of referring to us? Well I guess it's better than being blunt about it, huh?"

Church grinned, glad to see that the situation had gone better than expected. "Heh, yeah. And hey, look on the bright side, you'll most likely always be larger than Bodewig"

Rinin laughed again. It was a pleasant thing to hear, in Church's opinion. "Yeah, I bet if Laura cut her hair shorter, everyone would take her for a guy!"

The two of them laughed at the thought of it, but it was soon cut short by a feeling of a malicious gaze resting on them from afar. Church turned to face the last place he had seen Laura, only to find her a few tables closer, staring at he and his companion with menace.

_Oh shit, she's moving in for the kill!_

Rinin seemed to notice the approaching danger as well. "Uh... maybe we should leave, before our names appear in the next round of obituaries."

Church nodded in agreement, and helped his fellow comrade in escaping Bodewig's rapidly approaching doom. They both escaped into the hallway leading to the infirmary, and sped as quickly as possible, cosidering Rinin's condition, away from an untimely demise.

* * *

Upon finally reaching the door to the infirmary, Church left Rinin to sleep her way through the rest of the day. But upon finding that the nurse on duty was absent at the moment, Church had to help the injured girl into her bed as well, careful to avoid bumping her sensitive arms.

Once done with that, Church turned to leave, but Rinin's voice stopped him short. "Hey, hold on a minute."

Church turned to face her. "Yes?"

"You can just call me Rin now. I think our relationship is at a level now where that's OK."

Church smiled. "Glad to know I'm on the same level as five or six other people." He said jokingly.

Rin rolled her eyes at him. "Well if you're going to act like that, maybe I should withdraw my next offer."

Church cocked an eyebrow at her. "Well, if that's the case..."

Rin smirked at him. "Since you seem to believe that Panda Express is oh so wonderful, I'm gonna make you that dish I told you about, so you'll know what real Chinese food tastes like."

"R-really? Thanks... um... when?"

Rin gave him an look of mockery, although the smile it was accompanied with let Church know it was sarcastic. "Well not now, of course. I can barely move on pain medication, much less cook. Give me a week or so. Maybe until Saturday? That's only five days away."

Church nodded with satisfaction. "I see. Well, I look forward to your masterful culinary work, Chef Rinin. But for now, I think you need to rest. I've never seen anyone look as tired as you do right now."

Rin nodded, alright halfway to sleep. "Yeah...sure. Watch out for Laura out there..."

Church didn't know if the petite Chinese girl had meant that as a joke or not, but she had already dozed off, so he couldn't ask her. He turned to leave the infirmary, and bumped into someone at the exit. Fortunately, whoever it was was taller than him, so it couldn't have been Bodewig with a dangerous weapon to maul him with.

_Maybe it's the nurse? _He thought hopefully.

He raised his eyes to meet the face of a stern Chifuyu. She pushed him back a few feet, and handed him some sort of toolkit.

Church looked at the clunky thing with dismay. "What's this for?"

"That is for the gaping whole in the Academy's gym wall."

Church looked up at her. "I though I got a consolation punishment for waking up at six?"

"You did, but you seemed to be enjoying yourself with Miss Huang, so I can't really call it punishment, can I? Anyway, if you don't fix it within a week, I'll inform Miss Bodewig of your location at all times."

"How did you know-"

Chifuyu leaned in close and made the eeriest face possible. "I know ALL the things. You can't hide anything from me."

Church decided to say nothing, and merely walked away from the nightmare he knew would haunt him later. As Chifuyu watched him go, she thought, _teasing teenagers is so much fun. I can't wait until I tell Laura where he is anyway!_

* * *

**This is another pretty short chapter: forgive me. It's because I didn't have an idea for a chapter besides meeting more of the characters and developing some relationships, so I hand no further material after this point. Remember that feedback in any way, shape, or form is always welcome. Thanks for reading.  
**

**CHUCK NORRIS APPROVES THIS MESSAGE.**


	7. Sieglinde Vs Yukihira

**Round 7 of The Exeter Project is now here. As a side note, I would like a better title, but I can't really think of one. If anybody has some ideas on that, I would appreciate it.**

* * *

Five days. Five long days was what it took for Church to repair that accursed wall. And even after all of those bone-breaking hours of work, it still looked like a drywall patch-up attempt rather than a professional repair. Church eyed the wall that had earned his eternal hatred. If he had his way, he would never lay eyes on it again.

_I think we have done a fine job, Operator-Church. _

_I think that I don't care whether or not I did a fine job: Chifuyu will like it or I'll blast this place weeks ahead of schedule._

As if Church's dour thoughts had been overheard through some sort of telepathy, he was addressed from behind. "Oh, Church-Kun, the wall looks rather nice."

The American pilot turned to face Yamada, standing behind hi and admiring his fixer-upper handiwork. "Hm... well, if you say so. At this point, I'm so frustrated I may end up breaking it again."

The comment was met with a short laugh from the woman, despite the fact that he had meant it quite literally. "I see. Well, it is Saturday, so if you would like, the students are allowed to participate in mock battles on the field. It may help you release your pent up frustration."

"I'm not a student. Also, no one else is supposed to know about the suit."

Yamada made that trademark apologetic grin of hers, as well as a nervous laugh, and Church got the feeling that he was about to hear something he didn't want to hear.

"Well Church-Kun, the whole school...er...kinda already knows."

_Oh my... this is unfortunate._

"W-what?! Why?! How?!"

Yamada kneaded her hands anxiously. "W-well... it's quite difficult to keep such a secret, especially when you accidentally crashed into one of the Academy buildings. Not to mention that you were seen by two other girls, so we had no choice but to come out with the truth."

Church cradled his head in his hands and sighed. "Grr... this ruins everything..."

Mistaking his dissatisfaction as anger at her, Yamada bowed apologetically and quickly tried to remove blame from herself. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please don't be angry! I only told the classes because Orimura-Sensei made me!"

_That bitch..._

_Control your temper, Cerb._

Church waited for Yamada to finish her unnecessary apologies before speaking to her again. "Well, it that's the case, I guess I might as well take out the frustration that has just been amplified. Lead the way."

* * *

Upon stepping onto the training field, Church began to analyze all of the aspects of the would-be battlefield. There wasn't much to analyze. It was really just a large stadium surrounded by bleachers. What type of training field didn't have any form of cover? Church began to think that, but quickly remembered that I.S. combat was mostly aerial. Sometimes he forgot his new purpose, considering that Exeter was originally a power-suit for infantry.

Since the field wasn't too terribly interesting, Church began to identify all of the students that occupied it. Most of them were students he didn't recognize, although he did spot the girl who had been wearing the 'Pikachu' pajamas on Monday, although know she was wearing one of the student I.S. sync suits. Unfortunately, off to the right was not only the RCs, but also Shinonono and _both _Orimura siblings. Of course, Chifuyu wasn't arming herself for combat, but all of the others were.

Church noticed that Rin was not among them, although a moment of searching showed that the girl was seated nearby in the bleachers above. She didn't have anywhere near as many bandages as before, but her fatigued look and occasional massages of her aching body attested to the fact that she was in no condition to be piloting.

Yamada led Church over to the group of teens, and Church already knew that his opponent would be one of them. The thought made him a little anxious, since he hadn't fought an I.S. in a while. However, he was confident in his abilities, and he quickly dispelled his misgivings. Still, he hadn't dealt with all that many specialized I.S., so Church didn't really know what he was up against. Still, these girls had never fought Exeter either, so the disadvantage went to both sides.

Church carefully noted the expressions of the people surrounding him. Bodewig glared at him maliciously. Alcott eyed him a derisive look. Dunois was examining Church's suit, clearly fascinated by the tech. Shinonono cast a brief glance in his direction, but she quickly returned her attention to Orimura, who was merely staring out into the field. All in all, none of them seemed to have any good interest in Church. Or any interest at all really. Only Bodewig and Alcott seemed to look at him as a person, but it was obviously as a person that they hated.

On the other hand, Church didn't like the idea of not being recognized. He'd make sure the rest of this crew recognized him _very _soon. "So, who wants three weeks of repairs on their hands? I'm more than happy to deliver."

That comment garnered the irritated looks of all the girl around him. Even Ichika seemed a little annoyed by American's arrogant tone. Chifuyu smiled.

"Eager to get started huh? And feisty too. I can see why you and Miss Huang get along."

The rest of the crew did not seem so amused. Bodewig's angry gaze intensified. "If you're so eager to receive an early grave, I'll gladly scrap you. And your death will be seen as a complete accident. Sounds like a perfect situation to me."

Chifuyu glanced at the German girl with disapproval. "You won't be fighting him, Bodewig."

"What! Why not? Instructor, I-!"

"Don't start with me, Laura."

The silver haired girl fell silent, although the menace in her pointed gaze was not diminished. Church was glad he was inside of his suit, safe from the petite girl's fury.

"Well then, I assume you'll be choosing my opponent then?"

Chifuyu nodded. "That's right. And since that is the case... Ichika! Get ready."

"W-what?! Why me?"

The boy's older sibling grinned. "Because, you're the least challenging pilot here, and I think our guest needs to start on a low tier."

Now both of the young men were offended. Church didn't say it out loud, but his thoughts were none too pleased. _Low tier?! Bitch, I could own every single one of you Mecha-flying motherfuckers with one armament!_

Cerberus commented on Church's angry thoughts. _That's the way to tell the meat-bags, Operator! Well, if you had actually told them, but since you merely thought it..._

_Shut up Cerb, just warm up the weapons._

The would-be opponents walked themselves to opposite sides of the field, and the students that had been frivolously polluting the arena with a lack of activity scattered. Once the field was clear of any possible 'accidents', both pilots readied up their separate combat systems. As Orimura's I.S. materialized, Church opened up the database in his visor and searched for info on the hostile machine.

_Cerberus, have we never fought with this model before?_

Cerberus took mere seconds to search for all information relevant to the Japanese model. _I'm afraid not Operator. The model being used by our opponent is a rare one; Byakushiki has not found much use in the last decade. It is a difficult model to use, and is not favored by most 2nd Gen pilots. However, it has a very limited range of armaments. In fact, it only has one melee weapon,the Yukihira, and is devoid of ranged armaments. _

Church nodded to himself. _Is that so? However, if it only has one weapon, we can assume that it is either very powerful, or has some sort of special ability that compensates for its other shortcomings. Not to mention that this kid played a key role in destroying the Gospel. His sister is just ribbing him when she brings up a lack of skill. We can't underestimate him, or that Bya-whatever._

_Ever chary Operator. That is a valuable attribute. However, it seems our time for analysis is over._

The brief mental conversation between the two of them was interrupted by a shout from the sidelines. "Whenever you're ready, you may begin."

No other confirmation was needed. In Church's mind, this whole area had just become a free-fire zone. Similar to I.S. weaponry, the armaments Church intended to use materialized onto Exeter on hard points around the suit. These hard points stored data of weapons, which, after selected, were rapidly constructed by some advanced technology that less than point two percent of the world's population understood. All Church knew was that his weapons appeared when he needed them, and that the Instant Armor Modification Module would operate in the same manner when it was complete.

Exeter's Konig-Wolf Dual Sniper Rifles materialized on the suit's shoulder hard points. They were actually automatic, and more like machine guns, but the accuracy and range of the weapons classified them as sniper rifles. They long barrels locked into position, as Exeter's reticule simultaneously locked onto Orimura's I.S. He released the safety on the weapons and began firing, sending a high-speed, accurate volley of fifty-caliber rounds at his target.

Despite the speed that the projectiles traveled, Orimura had plenty of time to evade them by increasing his altitude. Exeter automatically tracked his movements and compensated, keeping focused fire on the target. Orimura continued to strafe back and forth in an attempt to dodge all of the fire. Church wasn't really hitting him, and therefore not accomplishing anything, but for now, Orimura was kept at bay by the attack, and he couldn't get close with his one melee weapon. It gave Church time to work out a strategy, but it also gave his opponent time to do the same.

_Cerberus, arm the AZ missiles. _

_Affirmative, Operator._

This missile pod materialized on Exeter's back Hard Point. When a target was locked, it would launch twenty-six homing missiles at the enemy. Having to dodge the DSRs and AZ missiles would be difficult for Orimura to do. Activating the new weapon, Cerberus modified the firing lines so that the missiles would split evenly and target the enemy from both the left and right. With the DSR fire down the middle, Orimura would be trapped in a kill box.

The missiles launched out of the back module, split evenly into two groups of thirteen, and accelerated towards their target. With bullets above, and missiles on both sides, Orimura was pinned. Church smiled as he thought of how easily this battle had been won. He watched with satisfaction as the missiles converged on their target: but there was no explosion. At the last moment, Orimura rocketed forward and cut through the missiles as a whole, while they were bunched together. Before Exeter could redirect its DSR fire to intercept the approaching target, the distance between the two machines had dwindled to mere feet. Deciding that evasion was his best option, Church ducked down as far as he could, barely dodging Yukihira. Unfortunately, the left DSR barrel was sliced in two by the weapon.

Using his thrusters to increase the distance between he and Orimura once more, Church threw a displeased glare at his opponent as he deposited his damaged Konig-Wolf rifles. He noticed the other RC's on the edge of the field, watching the battle with amusement. Cecilia laughed derisively.

"Is that the best that American piece of trash can do! I can't believe you thought you could beat Ichika with that!"

Church glared at the girl, but noted that most of the other RCs were thinking the same thing. At least it looked like it, from the looks on their faces. Well, except for Rin. Still in the bleachers, she merely looked on with interest, not seeming to root for either side. In fact, it looked as though she were debating over which pilot to support.

Knowing that he was getting distracted, Church returned his attention to his opponent, who had not moved after his dash at Exeter. Seeing an opportunity to show off, Church deposited the AZ missile module and selected the plasma blade, Sieglinde, for his wrist HP. He noted the looks of amazement in the audience's faces as they witnessed the blade manifest itself. Most, if not all I.S. used lasers when it came to energy type weapons. Plasma was unheard of as a form of combat, and therefore, Exeter's plasma weaponry was the pride and joy of its engineering team.

Warming up his thrusters for the series of close-range clashes about to take place, Church readied another special weapon in his other wrist HP. Although technically this weapon was considered lethal even to shielded pilots, Church was hoping that Byakushiki's Absolute Defense would protect its pilot from serious harm. Despite the awe being experienced by the audience, Orimura was not distracted in the slightest. He simply readied Yukihira to meet Sieglinde.

The two pilots ignited their thrusters and rocketed towards each other, and the meters between them dwindled rapidly. As one closed in on the other, both Church and Orimura aimed their respective blades at the torso of their opponent. Church, at the last second, twisted his body in a way that evaded his enemy's attack while still landing his own. However, he only landed a glancing blow with Sieglinde, and Byakushiki's shields were still holding up after the encounter.

As the two machines slid to a stop across from each other, Church noted the look of worry on Orimura's face. And he had good reason for it. Exeter was a much smaller unit than any I.S., and it also functioned like a human body instead of a mecha. Those two aspects made Exeter a very maneuverable machine, making close quarters difficult for any pilot. Of course, a smaller target also meant that he was harder to hit as well.

This time, Church decided not to participate in this high-tech joust with Orimura. Instead, he let the Japanese boy come to him. As his adversary blasted towards him, Church noticed that the Yukihira he wielded had entered a second attack form of some sort. This must've been the special ability that Church himself had predicted. In preparation for a counter, Church readied the secret weapon of his own that he had armed earlier. He raised his arm and pointed at the oncoming enemy in front of him, and began charging up Niddhog, Exeter's current most powerful weapon; a sonic cannon that could exert three times the yield of the city-buster dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The difference in this weapon, however, was that it concentrated all of that force in one small area. The blast would pulverize both Byakushiki and its pilot.

As Orimura drew near, a small spike of conflict arose within the American operative. He was about to kill another human being. One close to his own age even. One with lots of friends and a sister, who would be heartbroken over his death. And for what? Following orders?

He had mere seconds to reach a decision, and when Orimura was less than thirty meters away, he did. Church aimed Niddhog at the ground in-between he and his opponent, and braced himself for a massive shock wave and a lot of debris. As he fired the super weapon, the entire stadium was filled with a deafening clap that would have easily destroyed the hearing of Orimura and himself had they not been protected by their respective technologies. The wave of sound was followed by a wave of force, followed by tons of earth dislodged by the blast. Church, despite his attempts to the contrary, was blasted backwards by an impact greater than a bullet train, and he was flung all the way to the opposite end of the stadium. He slammed into the metal alloy wall, and despite the armor he was wearing, was instantly rendered unconscious by the impact.

* * *

"...is he alright?"

"We can't tell, since his suit is still active."

Church heard the foggy and distant voices in his head, but the only thing they did was intensify his headache. He slowly cracked one eye open, and then the other, and his vision was filled with his HUD, which was playing a recording of the battle with Orimura.

_...Cerberus?_

Church's tentative question was met with an enthusiastic response. _Ah, Operator! You are not discontinued! How tragic-_

_Yeah, yeah, whatever. Where am I? What happened? Go. _

Having cut off the pointless banter of the machine, it continued with a neutral tone that bore no emotion, as if Church had smitten its enthusiasm with his words.

_Yes, yes, of course Operator. The close proximity from Niddhog's discharge caused an impact that rendered you unconscious. You were carried to the infirmary by Academy instructors. You are still in your suit because Failsafe Tau 29X-SS prevents Exeter from shutting down while the pilot is unconscious. I also regret to inform you that you missed earlier. Your opponent is still very much alive and his Byakushiki has only suffered level C structural damage._

_I wasn't trying to hit him, because it would have killed him._

Cerberus thought this was a joke. _Oh, nonsense Operator! Why waste such an opportunity? There is no need to feel ashamed about missing your target. Niddhog has quite a kick-_

_I'm serious. I wasn't ready to kill him. And I don't think I will be for a while._

Cerberus remained quiet as it processed this, but when it finished, its tone once more lacked emotion. _So long as you are ready when it is necessary, Operator-Epsilon. You have a mission to fulfill._

Cerberus then signed off in order to check on the suit itself, but Church followed it with a remark anyway. "Yeah. Don't remind me..."

A tapping on his visor startled Church out of his own thoughts.

"I think I heard something. Hey, are you awake in there?"

Church deactivated the battle replay, and its image was replaced with the face of a well-known Chinese girl, trying to peer past Exeter's reflective visor. Before she treated him like a fish at an aquarium again, Church deactivated Exeter completely, and the suit began to fold. As it finished, Church found himself lying in the exact same bed Rinin had about a week ago.

"How ironic."

Rin smiled at him. "Isn't it? Anyway, if your spine isn't broken or anything, You need to get off your lazy ass and come on already. You've been lying there for nearly three hours."

Church rubbed the side of his face as he sat up. "You don't have any questions?"

Rin shrugged. "Sure I do. You blasted a crater half the size of the stadium and almost as deep into the ground. But I doubt you would tell me what that weapon was even if I asked." She leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek. "All I'm gonna say is thanks for not shooting Ichika with it. I saw how you pointed it away at the last second."

Church blushed just a little, but managed to keep his composure. "Isn't that a little much for a thanks between two people who've only known each other for a week?"

"You almost killed my future husband. But you chose not to; I think that deserves a little more than a thank you, and my arms hurt too much to give you a hug."

Church decided not to press the matter any further. "Chifuyu isn't going to make me fix that hole too, is she?"

Rin laughed at the thought of the misery that would bring upon the boy in front of her. "Nah, I don't think so. Something like that is going to need professional repairs. Not like your DIY crap on the gym wall."

"You're welcome... anyway, you said I need to come on already, where am I going?"

Rin gave him a look that said she couldn't believe he didn't know their destination. "It's Saturday, you idiot. I said I would prove to you that my food is a better quality than that fast food crap in your country. I've already got all the ingredients in my bag, so now we'll just head to you room to cook it. So let's go already. Every second we waste is another second the good name of gourmet Chinese food is tarnished by your heretical beliefs!"

"I... uh... don't think you want to go to my room..."

"Well you aren't going to mine."

Church shrugged, unwilling to debate with the girl, especially since she was doing him a favor by cooking dinner. "Fine. But you're going to regret this. Follow me."

* * *

"What... the... hell? Church, you actually have to sleep in this... whatever the hell this is?"

Church nodded as Rinin gawked at his terrible living quarters. "Yep. It hasn't been all bad. Minus the occasional cockroach, the miasma of musty stench, and the earwigs, it's-"

"Turn around."

"I take it you aren't cooking for me then?'

Rin looked at him defiantly. "Of course I am! But not here! This place is a dump, I can't believe you have to sleep here! Even you don't deserve that!"

"Even me? What the hell does that mean?"

"Just shut up and follow me. Geez, now we gotta go another thirty floors back down..."

Church stared after the girl as she stormed off, and wondered if he really wanted to be anywhere alone with her. But then he looked back into his 'room', and knew that anywhere was better than there.

* * *

**Bah, I wanted to write the next scene, but I'm so tired and I want to go ahead and publish this! I'll work it into the next one, I guess.**


	8. Auspicious Relations

**Yeah, yeah, I'm aware of how long this update took. I'm sorry guys. But exams are rolling around here at the end of my school year, and if I screw those up, you can be guaranteed that there will be no chapters all summer! So take what you can get when you can get it!**

* * *

Church sat uncomfortably in one of the two chairs around a table in Rin's room. He couldn't help but feel awkward about being in a girl's room… alone…

The American pilot shook his head back and forth, in an effort to dislodge wandering thoughts from his mind. In order to distract himself, he examined the room around him. It was so much nicer than his quarters! The whole place was spic-and-span, all of the appliances were cutting-edge; the room even had a separate kitchen and bathroom! He was beginning to think Chifuyu had put him in his room on purpose… maybe he would add it to the circles of hell.

In his examination of the quarters, Church noticed that there were two beds. He already knew that there were two girls to a room… despite the fact that Rinin was in the kitchen, and that the cacophonous noise of her cooking was quite loud, Church decided to question this.

"Hey, Rin? Where's your roommate?"

A shouted reply came to him in-between the banging of pots and pans. "Gone for the night! Won't be back until tomorrow evening! You didn't think I would actually bring a dork like you here if she was here too, did you?!"

Church rolled his eyes in exasperation, but said nothing back to the girl. Cerberus decided to utilize this moment of silence to speak his artificial mind.

_Fear not, Operator. I believe she was using sarcasm._

_I'm well aware of that._

_It is possible that she may be flirting with you._

_I don't think so._

Cerberus seemed confident in his response.

_According to Otaku sources, the more a Tsundere insults you, the more she is into you. _

Church mentally sighed. _I don't think I'm going to trust an Otaku source on this matter. Also, how can you classify her personality like that? We barely know anything about her._

_Oh, it is very obvious. Her mannerisms, speech, and attitude are all very easy to identify. She also sports twin-tails._

_Did you get that from an Otaku source as well?_

_Naturally._

Church decided to end the useless mental conversation there. Besides, the lovely smells originating from the kitchen were distracting him. It smelled amazing; he couldn't wait to get a taste of Rin's supposedly awesome sweet and sour pork.

"How much longer is this gonna take?"

"If you think this is so easy, then you get in here and do it! Besides, I'm just about done!"

_Awfully snappy, isn't she?_

"No one asked for your input, Cerb."

"What was that?"

Church returned his attention to his surroundings. Apparently, Rin had finished crafting her master meal, and was now exiting the kitchen to bring Church their food. The Chinese chef had already ditched her Academy uniform for a blank white t-shirt, black shorts, and an apron. Something about the whole image was awfully cute.

She placed a steaming hot plate of meat in the middle of the table, smirking confidently. "I'm about to change your world; I hope you're ready."

_I do believe that could have been a sexual innuendo._

It took all of Church's concentration to ignore the thoughts Cerberus brought to his mind. _SHUT UP, before you ruin this whole thing! You're making me look awkward!_

_Human meat-bags are so fickle… _

Opting to refuse giving that comment a response, Church focused on the food in front of him. It did look really good. The plate of meat covered in dark brown sauce seemed very appetizing. "So, um… you first?"

Rin tossed her apron over her chair and plopped down into it. "No, you first. I already know how awesome it is, you're the one that needs to taste it." She withdrew a pair of chopsticks from one of the apron pockets and handed it to Church. "Hurry up, I can't stand letting you be deceived by American fast food for another minute!"

Church accepted the Oriental utensils from Rin and proceeded to take hold of the most appealing piece of pork he could spot. He was painfully aware of the intensity that Rin was watching him with. He had always heard that cooks were ultra serious when it came to having their food tasted for the first time, but Church had never witnessed it firsthand.

_Should I scan for poison, Operator?_

_Shut up, you're distracting me._

_Distracting you from moving a piece of food to your mouth? Operator, that is quite sad. I mean-_

Church tuned out the rest of Cerberus' annoying comment. Instead, he tried his best to look natural as he consumed his first bite of gourmet Chinese food. It was extremely difficult to do, as he felt like squirming under the intensity of Rinin's emerald gaze. Still, he managed to bite into the pork without accidentally missing his mouth or anything, and his senses were soon engulfed by the incredible taste of the meal, so Church was briefly distracted from his nervousness.

_Holy… damn, this is awesome! I've never tasted anything like it!_

Cerberus had no emotion in his response, which came in an actual-factual manner. _That is an excellent observation, Operator. However, as a machine with no taste buds of my own , I cannot verify your statement. _

_Do you ever NOT have something to say?_

_Is that a rhetorical question, Operator? If not, then I dare say-_

Church regretted even getting involved in another conversation with the A.I. He tuned it out again, turning his attention to giving Rin his opinion on her food.

"Rin, this is really amazing! I can't believe you could make something so delicious! How long have you made this stuff?"

Rin smiled with satisfaction at hearing Church's compliments; funny how Ichika had never praised her cooking like this, despite how many times she had cooked for him over the years.

"Well, it was my dad's favorite dish, so he made sure that I knew how to make it the way people loved it. A lot of my spare time with him in our business was spent learning that recipe: I'm glad you like it. I told you that my genuine Chinese food was infinitely better than your American fast food garbage!"

Church nodded as he grabbed another piece of the delicious cuisine with his chopsticks. "Yeah, you'll have to forgive me for not believing you. Anyway, I didn't know you had a family business. Do you still help your parents with that? I mean, with school and all, you must not have much free time…"

Rin fell silent, and a certain look of uncomfortable anger could be seen in her features.

Church was instantly aware that he had made some sort of mistake. _Oh no… what did I say?_

Cerberus quipped up again here, but with something actually useful. _We can logically assume that the most sensitive part of what was said is the cause of this problem. It must have been your comment about the family. Be very careful how you proceed from here._

_Am I getting relationship advice from a soulless machine?_

Cerberus replied dejectedly. _That hurts, Operator. This is my existence you are talking about!_

Church mentally sighed, focusing on his human companion instead of his 'soulless machine' one. "Rinin, I can tell that I have upset you. Whatever I said, I'm sorry. I should have been more careful."

Rin shook her head forlornly. "N-no… it's not your fault; you couldn't have known that it was a sensitive subject. I'd… prefer it if you dropped it."

"Of course. I'm sorry. I can, uh… leave, if you want."

"You don't have to do that. It was just an accident. Now hurry up and keep eating! The food's gonna get cold!"

Church knew that the girl was merely forcing herself into a more cheerful mood, but he was glad that she was not angry with him for accidentally grazing a sensitive topic. For now, he was content to enjoy her company.

* * *

"We underestimated the American's capabilities. That weapon he used possesses far more firepower than any of our own."

Ichika sat up in bed in his room, surrounded by four of the five girls whose affection he had captured. Unfortunately, only Charlotte received those same feelings back from the boy. And although Ichika felt guilty for not telling the others about his relationship with the French RC, he was reluctant to cause such a large rift in the friendship of the group. So instead, he kept it a secret, until he could find the right time to break the news to Houki, Cecilia, Rin, and Laura.

Houki stoked her long dark hair as she responded to Laura's analysis. "But it can't really be all that powerful, can it? Neither he nor Ichika was seriously injured, and Byakushiki only suffered Level C damage. There are a lot of weapons more powerful than that."

Ichika frowned. "I wouldn't call a minor concussion and a severely bruised back 'non-serious injuries' Houki."

The girls ignored Ichika's complaints, and Charlotte built off of Houki's words. "It may seem that way, but the American didn't fire his sonic weapon right at Ichika. At the last second, he turned it away. Did you see the size of that crater? Who knows what it would have done to Ichika if it had hit him directly."

Cecilia ground her teeth in anger. "Stupid American sluggards… if he had hurt you… I'd declare war on the U.S. then and there!"

Laura sighed in exasperation. "I do not think the United Kingdom would have much of a chance against the United States. In terms of overall military power, your nation is somewhat behind."

Cecilia wagged a finger at the German. "But they don't have any I.S. anymore, right? My home country still has all three! We could crush them easily!"

Charlotte thought this was a good time to bring up a few details. "But of those three I.S., only two are functioning. Let's see, England has Queen's Guard, Excalibur, and Blue Tears… the Queen's Guard is a First Gen relic in a museum, and since you are too young to engage in war with other countries, Blue Tears is out of the equation. Only Excalibur would be able to perform on the battlefield in that situation, and with Exeter, America would still be on even terms with the U.K."

Cecilia scowled at the knowledgeable girl. "There was no need to trump my boasts with your logic, Frog Legs!"

"T-that's highly offensive…"

Laura smirked, eager to join in the fun of teasing her natural enemy. "Perhaps we can just change your I.S.' name from Rafael Revive to the Sissy Surrender. Would that be less offensive?"

Charlotte had trouble thinking of a good comeback for these insults to her nationality. But fortunately, her secret boyfriend was more than willing to defend her.

"That's enough, you two! What's wrong with you guys anyway? You need to grow up."

Cecilia seemed put down by the remark, but Laura looked more agitated than scolded. "Figures… I'm leaving. There are more important things to be done than waste time with you oafs: especially you, Orimura."

With that, the fiery silver-haired girl stormed out of the room, clearly angry. Ichika watched her go, and although he felt slightly bad about this situation, was still convinced that she was in the wrong and that she deserved what he had said.

Charlotte stared after the girl as well. "She had no call to say that."

Houki shook her head. "No, but Ichika, you didn't really handle that so well either. You could have been more careful."

Ichika seemed unfazed. "She could have been more tactful."

"That's not who she is."

"Well maybe she should be."

The room fell into an awkward silence. After a few moments, a clearly uncomfortable Cecilia rose from her chair. "I uh… have some tests to finish with Blue Tears. I hope you feel better Ichika. Good night."

In moments, the room was another occupant down. Ichika couldn't help but wonder what had made Cecilia leave on such a short notice. "Was it something I said?"

Houki frowned at the boy. "You really should be more careful with your words Ichika. There are some things girls don't like to hear regardless of whether you were referring to them or not."

"I think I'm just going to rest… this stuff is stressing me out. I'll apologize to them later."

Charlotte twiddled her thumbs, caught between being pleased that Ichika had stood up for her and feeling bad about Cecilia. (And just barely feeling a little guilty for Laura, although that was a minuscule amount) "Be sure not to wait too long, Ichika. We tend to let little problems like this grow into something a whole lot worse. You'd better fix it sooner or later, or else you'll discover that you were part of an argument you didn't even know you were having."

Ichika fell back to his bed with a grumble. _Guh… women…_

* * *

"Aw, crap. I forgot that Tina took all of the soda with her!"

Church peeked into the kitchen from where he sat. Rin's petite frame was hidden behind a small refrigerator door.

"I'm sure we can just drink water. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Rin edged her emerald eyes over the edge of the fridge door in order to cast an incredulous glance at her fairly new friend. "Did I seriously just hear an American say that he'd rather drink water instead of soda? I mean really?"

Church rolled his azure eyes at the girl. "That's kinda stereotypical, don't you think? Besides, I'm ethnically German, and I said it would be alright, not that I preferred it over soda."

"Pfft, ethnic… you were raised in America, you're American, right? Now anyway, why don't you go get us some drinks? There's a vending machine down the hall. You can pay, since I treated you to a meal."

Church rose to do as Rin asked, but he still made a gibe as he made for the door. "Isn't a drink usually a part of a meal?"

"Just shut up and go get 'em already!"

Church shut the door to Rin's room behind him as he made for the said vending machine. He didn't know which way down the hall Rin had meant, but he was fine with walking both ways. He needed to clear his head anyway… being a growing male teenager, the idea of being alone with a girl in her room made him think of some… ungentlemanly things. Church was glad that his actual personality kept him from performing such questionable acts.

As Church made his way down the hall, he also had the sudden realization that he didn't have any money to purchase drinks with… however, he was confident that Cerberus could figure something out. If the infernal machine could hack the Japanese Defense Force Aerial Infiltration Detection System, then it could definitely hack a vending machine.

And even if Church had money, when the vending machine came within his sight, he noticed that it only took Yen. He definitely didn't have any of that. The American pilot came to rest beside the machine.

_Cerberus, work a little science here, would ya?_

The little machine made another of its irritating quips. _Are you suggesting that I use my abilities for the purposes of common theft? You should be ashamed of yourself, Operator._

_Be quiet; you don't have a soul, and therefore you don't have moral issues. Just get me some drinks! Besides, I more than paid for them by fixing that God-forsaken wall!_

Cerberus made a little metallic sigh. _Yes, yes, of course Operator. Your wish is my command. Please lean your head against the machine; I need a point of contact if I cannot use Exeter's long range capabilities. _

Church did as he was instructed, while wondering how a machine could have more personality than some of the people he had met during training. The process of attaining a few free-of charge drinks took Exeter's advanced A.I. less than two seconds. Since Church had forgotten to ask Rin what type of drink she would have preferred, Cerb chose the most common; Coca-Cola. Having acquired two cans of the refreshment from the vending machine, Church mentally thanked Cerberus for 'breaking his morality code' and turned to head back to Rin's room.

As soon as he turned though, his progress was halted by the body of another person. Church stumbled away from the girl he had bumped into, and got ready to apologize, but he recognized who she was before he could utter a single word.

"M-Miss Bodewig?!"

The short silver-haired girl grumbled some sort of response as she pushed past Church. "Watch where you're going next time…"

Church watched as Laura walked past him without even a slightly irritated glare. He couldn't help but notice the downcast look on her face, and the dejected demeanor of her movements.

Cerberus interceded in Church's thoughts. _I know what you are thinking Operator. Do not forget what that meat-bag wishes to do to you._

_I know that Cerb. Now stop distracting me; I'm the moral compass in this relationship._

_We have a relationship?_

_Just… shut up. I know what I'm doing._

Church called out to potential danger before she could get out of earshot, and by first name, no less.

"Ah… um, Laura!"

Hearing her name uttered by a man who she was certainly not fond of stopped Laura in her tracks. However, she kept her reply emotionless.

"…what?"

Church chose his words carefully. "You seem…upset. Are you alright?"

The pause in-between the question and the answer was quite long. "…I don't need pleasantries of false concern, least of all from you."

"Who are you to determine whether or not my concern is sincere?"

"I've experienced enough of said concern to identify it easily. Now if you don't mind, I have to be somewhere, Schwachkopf."

Church smirked, eager to surprise the young woman with his true ethnicity. "I don't appreciate being called idiot, moron, or imbecile in foreign languages, meine Mädchen. "

Laura actually deigned Church with a surprised look upon hearing his response. "You… Sprechen Sie Deutsch?"

"Ja. Überrascht?"

Laura actually seemed intrigued with the idea of an American speaking her language. "Ja... where are you from? Your pronunciation is too natural to be a second language."

Church smiled. "Eight years in one's home country tends to make the language easy to learn."

"So then you are actually German... you don't look it."

Church shrugged. "Neither do you. So I guess we're even, in that regard."

"We are definitely not even. Although I guess I do think slightly better of you, at any rate."

"That sounds kind of racist, y'know? Although, I suppose disliking a nationality isn't the same as disliking a race... so nationalist, maybe?"

Laura actually seemed to be interested in this conversation. She even retraced her steps in order to come a little closer to Church, who proceeded to pop open his can of soda. "Serving in the military tends to instill more pride in one's nationality. The only nation that I really despise is those French unter Männern."

"Be careful where you say that. I don't know it for a fact, but I'm sure that this school frowns upon such derogatory names. Although you don't really care, do you?"

Laura came to stand beside him. "Nein. Still, I keep those opinions to myself for the most part. By the way, don't think this little conversation means we are getting along. I'm still going to punish you for what you said."

"Aw, come on, I didn't really mean those things. I only said them to irritate you."

"Whether or not you meant it is irrelevant, considering that it's true..."

Awkward silence ensued between the two conversationalists. Church didn't really know how to respond to that. After all, Laura was... 'small'. That was just a fact. Fortunately, the German girl broke the silence for him.

"May I ask you a question?"

"You just did, didn't you?"

Laura shot an irritated glare at him. "Don't patronize me. Yes or no?"

"Of course."

Laura looked down at herself, as if examaning her own body. "From a man's point of view, what do other women have that I don't?"

_Boobs, for one._

Church almost burst out laughing. He just barely managed to avoid the blunder by pretending to choke on his drink.

_SHUT UP, YOU STUPID MECHANICAL DIPSHIT! YOU'RE GOING TO GET ME KILLED!_

Recovering from his bout, Church tried to put on a serious face and not think about the hilarious joke Cerberus had made.

"W-what do you mean? Who else are you comparing yourself to?"

Laura frowned. "...Never mind. You are not the one to talk about this with."

"Well I'm the only other guy here, except for the one I assume you're referring to. I don't think you're comfortable with asking Orimura this question, yeah?"

"...I suppose... then answer the question, since you seem so eager to do so. Despite how little you know about the exact situation with Ichika and the others... why does he care more for them than for me? What have I done to earn the lowest place among his rankings? I don't understand... is it something I've done, or merely because of who I am?"

_For someone who does not like you in the slightest, this is a very personal question to ask. Perhaps your charming behavior is to thank, Operator?_

_Let me think about how to answer this, would you?_

"Well... um... like you said, I don't know much about your situation with him..."

_Other than the fact that he is already in the throes of love with the Frenchie?_

_You aren't helping, Cerb._

Church tried to continue as smoothly as he could. "I mean... guys are pretty complex too, y'know? It might not be something you don't have that the other girls do. Maybe Orimura just has... a certain taste, if you will."

This caused Laura to scowl. "So then I'm doomed to fail simply because of what I am, yes? Because who I am isn't appealing to him?"

"That's not what I meant! I mean, I wouldn't say doomed to fail... there are more guys worth loving than just Orimura, even if he is a really great guy."

"Yet those men would have the same reaction. I am altogether... undesirable."

_You may have handled this poorly, Operator._

_Yeah, I can tell. Just give me a minute to fix this!_

"You can't just lump all men together like that! I mean, different guys have different likes and dislikes... and Laura, you are... um, if you don't mind me saying, a very beautiful girl. I'm sure someone will like you for who you are. You just have to be patient."

Although she was flustered by his comment, Laura didn't seem convinced by Church's words. "Name one man with tastes like that."

"...Uh... well, I mean... I... kind of... do? I think that, um... I would prefer, theoretically, I mean... a girl like you... compared to Dunois or Shinonono..."

_This is the most non-smooth conversation you have ever had, Operator. For shame!  
_

_Excellent observation, ass-hat!_

_However, it seems to have worked quite well. Unless the meat-bag female is turning red with anger and is about to murder you. Then not so much._

Laura was indeed blushing quite furiously. It was an amazingly cute sight, but the girl recovered her composure as quickly as possible, so Church only got to witness the phenomenon for a few seconds. Laura offered only a small farewell before leaving as quickly as she could to hide her embarrassment.

"Ah... um, thank you... for talking with me. I do feel much better."

"Does this make us friends?"

"Absolutely not. I'm still going to kill you. Just maybe a little less painfully now."

No other words were exchanged. Laura stormed off indignantly, trying to hide some emotion she viewed as weakness. Church watched her go, wondering just how much he had improved his situation with her. Cerberus offered his usual commentary on the situation.

_I think that went quite well. _

_No thanks to you, yes, it did. I think. She still doesn't seem to like me all that much._

_They say that insulting a woman's bust is the ultimate way to become eternal enemies. _

Church proceeded to make his way back to Rin's room, painfully aware of his long absence. _Did you get that from an Otaku source too?_

_Naturally!_

* * *

"For crying out loud, how do you get lost in one damned hallway? You were gone for like, thirty minutes! It's almost eight!"

Church just shrugged and allowed Rin to badger him, instead of revealing what had actually transpired in the hallway. "So then a lot of the girls will be coming back to their rooms soon. I should probably go; if any of them see me leaving, they'll definitely get the wrong idea."

Rin seemed to agree with this. "Yeah, that could be a real problem... but I'm sure you could stay for about ten more minutes."

Church shook his head as he made for the door. "Nah, I don't think I should risk it. I don't want to tarnish your reputation. Thanks for the m-!"

Rin planted her hand on the door to her room to keep Church from opening it. "Sheesh, you're just as thick as Ichika... look, I was giving you ten more minutes so that I could think about how to word this..."

Despite his best efforts to the contrary, Church couldn't help the lewd thoughts crossing his mind. "W-word what?"

"If you'd like, you can sleep here tonight. That's what."

_This relationship escalated quickly, Operator. Good job!_

"B-but why?"

Rin fiddled with one of her twin-tails as she thought of the best way to word her explanation. "Hm... well, I never really did repay you for saving me. The food was just to prove a point. So as thanks for actually rescuing me, you can, just this once, since Tina is gone, sleep here for the night; instead of that hellhole you dare call a room."

Church was rendered speechless at this fortunate turn of events. As the seconds passed, Rin gave him a curious look.

"You don't have to accept the offer, if it really bothers you that much."

"N-no! I mean, I would be glad to accept your generosity..."

The Chinese RC grinned. "That wouldn't have anything to do with me being a girl, would it?"

"Of course not. Just a favor among friends, right?"

Rin nodded as she headed back towards the interior of her room. "Sure, if that's how you wanna look at it. Anyway, the only rule is that if you see any part of me that I don't want you to, intentionally or not, I'll kill you. I have to save my marital purity for Ichika. SO YOU'D BETTER KEEP YOURSELF IN CHECK!"

Church watched the ball of potential fury that was Rin leave for the bathroom. Just to be safe, he'd hide himself under the blankets and blindfold himself with hiws own socks... despite how much he drooled over the idea of what Rin had mentioned.

_I believe your dreams shall be most intriguing tonight, Operator. Unfortunately, I have no choice but to watch them. Let us go to the bed then, before you do anything stupid._

_I will find a way to remove you Cerb. I'll dream up a method tonight. Let's just accept this situation and do it._

_Giggity!_

_SHUT UP._

* * *

**So anyway... after exams, updates shouldn't take so long. Any feedback is welcome, let me know your thoughts, and all of that good stuff. Any ideas or suggestions are also welcome. **


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